The Library

Read from 1000+ Short Stories.

The £1,000,000 Bank-Note
Mark Twain
A beared man in a suit, hat, and tie. Browsing clothing. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The £1,000,000 Bank-note and Other New Stories
8,226 words - 33 minutes
A man is given a bank note worth £1,000,000 as a bet to see whether it would be usable without arousing suspicion.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
‘Give me the change, please.’
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The $25,000 Jaw
Richard Connell
A clenched fist. Graphite filter.
Published 1922
6,592 words - 27 minutes
Croly Addicks is chinless both metaphorically and literally. But things take a drastic turn when the insults and disrespect finally make him snap.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Aw, wadda yuh expeck of Chinless?” returned the brunette stenographer disdainfully as she crackled paper to conceal her breach of the office rules against conversation. “Feller with ingrown jaws was made to pick on.”
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2BR02B
Kurt Vonnegut
A solitary,colourless rotary telephone resting on a stooll
Published 1962 in If: Worlds of Science Fiction, Vol. 11, No. 6
2,519 words - 11 minutes
In a future where death has been solved, and the population of the United States is stabilised, a father waits nervously for his wife to give birth to triplets.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
The room was being redecorated. It was being redecorated as a memorial to a man who had volunteered to die.
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39
Henry Lawson
A man in a tux, tipping his hat. Graphite Filter.
Published 1906
254 words - 2 minutes
The author looks forward to living in his forties.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
I only woke this morning - To find the world is fair - I’m going on for forty, - With scarcely one grey hair.
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About Barbers
Mark Twain
Half of a stern, staring face. Graphite filter
Published 1871
1,576 words - 7 minutes
A man awkwardly does his best to avoid falling into the hands of the worst barber in the barbershop.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
About this time I was amusing myself trying to guess where he would be most likely to cut me this time, but he got ahead of me, and sliced me on the end of the chin before I had got my mind made up.
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About Love
Anton Chekhov
A man and woman kissing by a window, graphite filter.
Published 1898 in Русская мысль (Russian Thought), No. 8
3,858 words - 16 minutes
A man recounts his love for a woman married to a boring man, and how he had wondered what she, or any woman, found in such men.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“There is a proverb that if a peasant woman has no troubles she will buy a pig. The Luganovitchs had no troubles, so they made friends with me.”
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According to Their Lights
O. Henry
Theatres at New York in 1900. Graphite Filter.
Published 1907 in The Trimmed Lamp
2,193 words - 9 minutes
Two men become friends after falling from grace in different ways. But they have differing opinions on what they would be willing to do to get back into society.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I’d marry the Empress of China for one bowl of chop suey. I’d commit murder for a plate of beef stew. I’d steal a wafer from a waif. I’d be a Mormon for a bowl of chowder.”
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Across the Straits
Henry Lawson
A large steamboat on the sea, graphite filter.
Published 1895 in The Worker, Vol. 4, No. 2
2,032 words - 9 minutes
A pair set for New Zealand’s South Island to seek fortune, but start out with losing a half-sovereign.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
You would sooner know that you fooled your money away on a spree, and made yourself sick, than lost it out of an extra hole in your pocket, and kept well.
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An Adventure in Futurity
Clark Ashton Smith
A drawing of two men in futuristic gear overlooking an majestic, alien palace with a fight between aliens occurning in the courtyard.
Published 1931 in Wonder Stories, Vol. 2, No. 11
14,141 words - 57 minutes
Hugh befriends a strange man named Elkins, whose nationality and race Hugh is unable to pin down. Elkins shows a mysteriously advanced understanding of modern science despite having no public fame or connections.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“And do you ever think that present-day New York will some time be as fragmentary and fabulous as Troy or Zimbabwe? That archaeologists may delve in its ruins, beneath the sevenfold increment of later cities, and find a few rusting mechanisms of disputed use, and potteries of doubtful date—”
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The Adventure of Black Peter
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of three men looking through a window to see a man slumped over but standing up.
Published 1904 in Collier’s: The National Weekly, Vol. 32, Iss. 22
8,098 words - 33 minutes
The infamous retired sailor known as ‘Black Peter’ is found in his house speared to the wall by his own harpoon. Holmes is on the case.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“This room is not well adapted for a cell, and Mr. Patrick Cairns occupies too large a proportion of our carpet.”
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The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of a man in a robe and top hat stands in the shadows with his hands clasped.
Published 1904 in Collier’s, Vol. 32, Iss. 26
6,699 words - 27 minutes
Sherlock Holmes must help the Lady Evan Brackwell, who has fallen prey to the infamous king of blackmail, Charles Augustus Milverton.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Heaven help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and reputation come into the power of Milverton. With a smiling face and a heart of marble he will squeeze and squeeze until he has drained them dry.”
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The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of Holmes and a small black dog waiting behind a bush as a horse and carriage approaches.
Published 1927 in Liberty
6,230 words - 25 minutes
The trainer of a racing stable comes to Holmes claiming that his master has gone mad and disappears into a crypt every night to speak with a strange man.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“He should have been a buck in the days of the Regency—a boxer, an athlete, a plunger on the turf, a lover of fair ladies, and, by all account, so far down Queer Street that he may never find his way back again.”
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The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1904 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 28
9,141 words - 37 minutes
Sir Eustace Brackwell, one of the richest men in Kent, is dead, Knocked with his own poker. The infamous Randall Gang is the main suspect.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Well, they did not take much—only half-a-dozen articles of plate off the sideboard. Lady Brackenstall thinks that they were themselves so disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that they did not ransack the house as they would otherwise have done.”
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The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of two men in suits (Holmes and Watson) console a man sitting down with his hand in his hair.
Published 1892 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 17
9,674 words - 39 minutes
Alexander Holder, the senior partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City of London, was entrusted with the priceless ‘Beryl Coronet’. Now he finds himself asking Holmes for help, after losing three of its beryl jewels to thievery from his own household.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
At my cry he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with three of the beryls in it, was missing.
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The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1892 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 3
7,805 words - 32 minutes
The silly mystery of an abandoned felt hat and Christmas goose turns into an extravagant scandal when the precious ‘Blue Carbuncle’ is found in the stomach of the goose.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.”
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The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of four men in a room, one standing up holds a large stack of paper.
Published 1908 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 36
10,677 words - 43 minutes
A clerk is found dead with the plans for the British Navy’s revolutionary new submarine in his pocket.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
You must drop everything, Sherlock. Never mind your usual petty puzzles of the police-court. It’s a vital international problem that you have to solve. Why did Cadogan West take the papers, where are the missing ones, how did he die, how came his body where it was found, how can the evil be set right?
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The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of Holmes, Watson and anotehr man peering at a board as the third man arranges two small objects.
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 25
8,631 words - 35 minutes
Miss Susan Cushing receives a cardboard box with two severed human ears. Scotland Yard suspects a revenge prank from evicted tenants with access to human remains, but Holmes suspects a more sinister plot.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“The presumption is strongly against it. Bodies in the dissecting-rooms are injected with preservative fluid. These ears bear no signs of this. They are fresh, too. They have been cut off with a blunt instrument, which would hardly happen if a student had done it.”
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The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of a lady talking to a sitting Holmes and Watson.
Published 1892 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 3
9,938 words - 40 minutes
Violet Hunter tells Holmes of her mysterious job offer, giving her a considerable salary with the peculiar caveat of needing her to cut her hair short.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“To the man who loves art for its own sake, it is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived.”
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The Adventure of the Creeping Man
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of a woman in bed noticing a man staring through the window.
Published 1923 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 65,
7,648 words - 31 minutes
A famous professor has begun to show extremely disturbing habits after a visit to Prague, including walking on all fours and appearing in places that should be inaccessible to a man of his age. His loyal dog has also begun attacking him.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones. And their passing moods may reflect the passing moods of others.”
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The Adventure of the Dancing Men
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1905 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 26
9,675 words - 39 minutes
Hilton Cubit asks Holmes to explain to him a mysterious set of pictograms that frightens his wife, who refuses to explain why.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“What one man can invent another can discover,”
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The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1910 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 40
9,968 words - 40 minutes
One is dead and two have been rendered insane, and yet not even Holmes can find any evidence of poison or an intruder.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces.
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The Adventure of the Dying Detective
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of Holmes, lying in bed, is reaching out towards Watson who his handling a small box.
Published 1913 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 46
5,769 words - 24 minutes
Upon learning of a bedridden Holmes, Watson finds him gaunt and flushed, claiming to have a disease both fatal and infectious.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“For three days he has been sinking, and I doubt if he will last the day. He would not let me get a doctor. This morning when I saw his bones sticking out of his face and his great bright eyes looking at me I could stand no more of it.”
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The Adventure of the Empty House
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1903 in Collier’s
8,689 words - 35 minutes
With Holmes gone, Watson tries his hand at solving the tragedy of Ronald Adair. Adair has been found shot, but with no gun or trace of an intruder in the room in which he lay.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
It can be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes had interested me deeply in crime, and that after his disappearance I never failed to read with care the various problems which came before the public.
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The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1892 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15
8,281 words - 34 minutes
Mr. Victor Hatherley tells of how he was hired by a strange man to inspect a hydraulic press, eventually leading to his near death by crushing.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his sittingroom in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe . . .
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The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of a man (Holmes) grabbing the hand of a distressed woman in a room with three other people.
Published 1904 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 28, No. 163
8,918 words - 36 minutes
A detective comes to Holmes with a case of a dead man, a small sealing-wax knife, and a pince-nez.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“There can be no question that this was snatched from the face or the person of the assassin.”
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The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1926 in Liberty
7,171 words - 29 minutes
Holmes and Stackhurst are walking along the beach when a third friend appears, staggering out from behind a cliff edge to drop dead at their feet.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
One glimmer of life came into his face for an instant, and he uttered two or three words with an eager air of warning. They were slurred and indistinct, but to my ear the last of them, which burst in a shriek from his lips, were “the Lion’s Mane.”
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The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1921 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 62, No. 370
5,639 words - 23 minutes
Holmes tells Watson of his plan to foil his would-be assassin using a wax model.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“No violence, gentlemen—no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!”
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The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1904 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 28, No. 261
8,006 words - 33 minutes
Overton comes to Holmes for help find his missing rugger teammate.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“You must admit that it is curious and suggestive that this incident should occur on the eve of this important match, and should involve the only man whose presence seems essential to the success of the side. It may, of course, be coincidence, but it is interesting.”
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The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1892 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 16
8,100 words - 33 minutes
Lord St. Simon comes to Holmes to ask him to find his missing bride.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Ah, Watson,” said Holmes, smiling, “perhaps you would not be very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the same position.”
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The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1903 in Collier’s
9,214 words - 37 minutes
McFarlane comes to Holmes desperately claiming that despite having all the evidence pointing to him having murdered a man for his inheritance, he is innocent.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Important fresh evidence to hand. McFarlane’s guilt definitely established. Advise you to abandon case. — Lestrade.”
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The Adventure of the Priory School
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1904 in Collier’s
11,455 words - 46 minutes
The ten-year-old son of one of the richest Dukes of England has disappeared, possibly having been abducted. The principal of his school begs for help from Sherlock Holmes.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Well, now, you do not mean to seriously suggest that this German rode off upon a bicycle in the dead of the night bearing the boy in his arms?”
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The Adventure of the Red Circle
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of Holmes with his smoking pipe stares at a sheet of paper in his hand.
Published 1911 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 41
7,285 words - 30 minutes
A man offers a woman double her lodging rate if she promises to never disturb him. But after his habits distress her too much, she pays a call to Holmes for help.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“It was his particular direction that we should always, when he rang, leave his meal upon a chair, outside his door. Then he rings again when he has finished, and we take it down from the same chair. If he wants anything else he prints it on a slip of paper and leaves it.”
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The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1926 in Liberty
5,498 words - 22 minutes
A painter comes to Holmes asking for help finding his wife, who he believes ran off with his neighbour and all their money. Holmes, busy with another case, sends Watson to investigate.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“He tore up one of his wife’s photographs in my presence—tore it up furiously in a tempest of passion. ‘I never wish to see her damned face again,’ he shrieked.”
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The Adventure of the Second Stain
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1904 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 28, No. 168
9,763 words - 40 minutes
Two politicians come to Holmes desperate to regain a stolen document of drastic importance, else even war might be possible.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“You will not see him.” “Why not?” “He was murdered in his house last night.”
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The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1904 in Collier’s
8,320 words - 34 minutes
Someone has been breaking into stores and breaking plaster busts of Napoleon and nothing more. The Police suspect lunacy, but Holmes has a different motive in mind.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“This is certainly very novel.”
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The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1903 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 27, No. 157
7,824 words - 32 minutes
Miss Violet Smith comes to Holmes concerning a strange cyclist who has been following her as she leaves her work every weekend.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“It was a straight left against a slogging ruffian. I emerged as you see me. Mr. Woodley went home in a cart.”
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The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
Drawing of a woman with her hand on Sherlock Holmes in plea, nearby is Watson.
Published 1892 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 3
9,801 words - 40 minutes
A woman asks for help solving the death of her sister with the only clue being the sister’s screams of ‘the speckled band’.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
At first I thought that she had not recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out in a voice which I shall never forget, “Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!”
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The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1924 in The Strand Magazine
5,957 words - 24 minutes
Sherlock Holmes investigates the claim of a blood-sucking woman in Sussex.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Our client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, has made some inquiry from us in a communication of even date concerning vampires.
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The Adventure of the Three Gables
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1926 in The Strand Magazine
6,040 words - 25 minutes
A man comes to see Holmes and Watson, full of threats.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
I don’t think that any of my adventures with Mr. Sherlock Holmes opened quite so abruptly, or so dramatically, as that which I associate with The Three Gables.
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The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1924 in Collier’s
6,184 words - 25 minutes
Two men with the same last name, ‘Garrideb’, claim to be looking for a third. Only then can they pass the test of a dead, eccentric millionaire and inherit his fortune three ways.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“He had no kith nor kin—or, if he had, I never heard of it. But he took a kind of pride in the queerness of his name. That was what brought us together.”
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The Adventure of the Three Students
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1904 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 27
6,456 words - 26 minutes
A student has snuck into a university and copied the upcoming exam. Holmes has no time, for such trivial matters, but the quaint clues are enough to pique his attention and set the game afoot.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
On the table in the window were several shreds from a pencil which had been sharpened. A broken tip of lead was lying there also. Evidently the rascal had copied the paper in a great hurry, had broken his pencil, and had been compelled to put a fresh point to it.
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The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1927 in Liberty
4,457 words - 18 minutes
A veiled woman with a mutilated face, agrees only to talk to Holmes about her horrid past.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Well, Mr. Holmes, you would hardly say it was a face at all. That’s how it looked. Our milkman got a glimpse of her once peeping out of the upper window, and he dropped his tin and the milk all over the front garden.”
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The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1908 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 36
11,386 words - 46 minutes
A Mr. John Scott Eccles comes to seek Holmes’ advice only to be interrupted by police arriving to interrogate Eccles on a murder from the night before.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built. Life is commonplace, the papers are sterile; audacity and romance seem to have passed forever from the criminal world.
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Aepyornis Island
H. G. Wells
A wooden, five-masted sailing ship on the sea. Graphite filter. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in Pall Mall Budget
4,962 words - 20 minutes
A man with a scar across his face tells of how he discovered the famous, monstrous bird ‘Aepyornis.’
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Hatched, sir, when my head was pillowed on it and I was asleep. I heard a whack and felt a jar and sat up, and there was the end of the egg pecked out and a rum little brown head looking out at me.”
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After the Race
James Joyce
Four clinking wine glasses. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
2,230 words - 9 minutes
After a successful car race in Dublin, the members of the team, most of different nationalities, set off for a celebratory dinner.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
In Jimmy’s house this dinner had been pronounced an occasion. A certain pride mingled with his parents’ trepidation, a certain eagerness, also, to play fast and loose for the names of great foreign cities have at least this virtue.
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The Alchemist
H. P. Lovecraft
A curved glass vial holding a misty gas. Graphite filter
Published 1916 in The United Amateur, No. 4
3,679 words - 15 minutes
A man searches for answers to the mystery of a curse that has made all of his ancestors die young.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“May ne’er a noble of thy murd’rous line Survive to reach a greater age than thine!”
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All Gold Canyon
Jack London
A foggy valley through cliffs. Graphite filter.
Published 1905 in The Century Magazine, Vol. 71, Iss. 1
7,722 words - 31 minutes
In a pristine canyon of lillies, butterflies and deer, a prospector comes looking for gold. But luck turns out to be both with and against him.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Ah, ha! Mr. Pocket! I’m a-comin’, I’m a-comin’, an’ I’m shorely gwine to get yer! You heah me, Mr. Pocket? I’m gwine to get yer as shore as punkins ain’t cauliflowers!”
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The All Right ’Un
Banjo Paterson
An envelope and letter. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The Bulletin, Vol. 13, No. 703
285 words - 2 minutes
After being given care by the narrator, a man writes him a letter saying he will repay his kindness by providing him a tipoff on a horse that will for sure win its next race.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
He came from ‘further out’, That land of heat and drought And dust and gravel. He got a touch of sun, And rested at the run Until his cure was done, And he could travel.
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All Summer in a Day
Ray Bradbury
A sunrise above the horizon. Graphite Filter.
Published 1954 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol. 5, No. 3
1,936 words - 8 minutes
Children wait by the windows of their school for a chance to see the Venutian sun.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
And they, they had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been only two years old when last the sun came out and had long since forgotten the color and heat of it and the way it really was. But Margot remembered.
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“allez!”
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A female acrobat inside a raised ring with a crowd watching. Graphite filter.
Published 1889
1,930 words - 8 minutes
A girl lives her youth in a circus as an acrobat, eventually falling in love with a clown who joins the show.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The man in the tall hat walks in the centre of the ring, holding in front of the horse’s head the end of his long whip, which he cracks deafeningly.⁠ ⁠…“Allez!⁠ ⁠…”
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Alone
Edgar Allan Poe
A man with a billowing coat looks at a spectral-faced cloud.
Published 1875 in Scribner’s Monthly, Vol. X, No. 5
140 words - 1 minutes
A man describes his life of isolation.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
From the same source I have not taken My sorrow—I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone— And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—
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The Amateur Rider
Banjo Paterson
A striped jockey on a racehorse. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 774
749 words - 3 minutes
A horse manager is shocked at the appearance of a new jockey.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Ought to be under the Dog Act, he ought, and be kept off the course. Fall! why, he’d fall off a cart, let alone off a steeplechase horse.
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Ambition and Art
Banjo Paterson
A hand delicately holding a small paintbrush. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14 No. 745
398 words - 2 minutes
A poem on the difference between a life of ambition and a life of art.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
There has been reward — but the end of all -Is dust and ashes.
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Anathema
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
The domes of an orthodox church. Graphite filter.
Published 1905
2,892 words - 12 minutes
A deacon refuses to denounce a favourite author of his during a rite of anathematization.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
But something peculiar happened to the archdeacon that morning, something that had never happened before. Perhaps it was the whiskey that his wife gave him with his tea.
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And All the Earth a Grave
C. C. MacApp
A wooden coffin with a cross. Graphite filter
Published 1963 in Galaxy Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 2
2,358 words - 10 minutes
A coffin factory accidentally overbudgets the marketing team a hundred fold... leading to complete success.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
The coffin became the new status symbol.
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—And Devious the Line of Duty
Tom Godwin
Drawing of a man looking at another who is smugly sipping on a drink.
Published 1962 in Analog: Fact and Fiction
13,271 words - 54 minutes
A young lieutenant is willing to die in the line of duty to save Earth and her people, but instead he is tasked with the much stranger mission of breaking up a marriage.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“You are thinking, of course, of dying dramatically behind a pair of blazing blasters. But you will soon learn, my boy, that a soldier’s duty is to protect the worlds he represents by whatever actions will produce the best results, no matter how unheroic those actions may be.”
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Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
A kissing man and woman, silhouetted in a forest. Graphite filter.
Published 1849 in New-York Daily Tribune, Vol. 9, No. 156
298 words - 2 minutes
A man pines for a lover from his youth.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee;
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The Ant
Aesop
Ants climbing a tree branch. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
101 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on the origin of the ant.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Ants were once men and made their living by tilling the soil. But, not content with the results of their own work, they were always casting longing eyes upon the crops and fruits of their neighbours, ...
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The Apple
H. G. Wells
A twisting tree. Graphite filter.
Published 1896 in The Idler, Vol. 10, Iss. 3
2,947 words - 12 minutes
A stranger foists an apple onto Mr Hinchcliff, before telling the story of how he came by it and why he wants it gone.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“It never fades. I have had it now for three months. And it is ever bright and smooth and ripe and desirable, as you see it.”
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Araby
James Joyce
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
2,329 words - 10 minutes
A young boy is obsessed with his friend’s sister and follows her around with little confidence in speaking to her. When she expresses disappointment at not being free to go to the ‘Araby’ bazaar, the boy promises to go himself and buy her something.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
At night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom her image came between me and the page I strove to read. The syllables of the word Araby were called to me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me.
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The Argonauts of the Air
H. G. Wells
A propellor plane flying away from an explosion. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in Phil May’s Illustrated Annual, Vol. 5
4,419 words - 18 minutes
The duo of inventors, Monson and Woodhouse strive to create the first flying machine while the London public laughs at their failed attempts.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I have been talking to Mr. Monson, and he can think of nothing, positively nothing, but that flying-machine of his. Do you know, all his workmen call that place of his ‘Monson’s Folly’?”
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The Army Ensign
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A letter and envelope stamped with a wax seal. Graphite filter.
Published 1920 in Sasha
15,714 words - 63 minutes
A man finds and reads the diary of an army ensign
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
I was waiting for her and we went along the thick alley, that very same alley where I saw for the first time my incomparable Kate, the queen of my heart.
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Asaph
Frank Stockton
A man in a suit, hat and with a cane. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The Watchmaker’s Wife and Other Stories
13,145 words - 53 minutes
Being a man known for using his head rather than his hands, Asaph plans to help his friend court his sister in exchange for a nice suit and several smaller amenities.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I never before saw a man that would sell his sister for a dictionary!”
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Asleep in Armageddon
Ray Bradbury
A misty planet.
Published 1948 in Planet Stories, Vol. 4, No. 1
4,470 words - 18 minutes
Leonard Sale crash lands on a planet and has six days to spare before rescue with plenty of food and water as well as a conveniently breathable atmosphere. But his luck turns when he tries to fall asleep and begins to hear voices.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
No record of insanity in the family for two hundred years. All healthy, well-balanced. No reason for insanity now. Shock? Silly. No shock. I’m to be rescued in six days. No shock to that.
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The Ass and the Mule
Aesop
A donkey. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
187 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on teamwork.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A certain man who had an Ass and a Mule loaded them both up one day and set out upon a journey. So long as the road was fairly level, the Ass got on very well: but by and by they came to a place among...
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The Assignation
Edgar Allan Poe
Brick walls and a bridge over a canal. Graphite filter.
Published 1834 in The Lady’s Book
4,354 words - 18 minutes
A man is travelling through Venice on a gondola when a baby falls from a bridge and into the canal.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A figure muffled in a cloak, stepped out within reach of the light, and, pausing a moment upon the verge of the giddy descent, plunged headlong into the canal.
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An Astrologer’s Song
Rudyard Kipling
A shining star. Graphite filter.
Published 1910 in Rewards and Fairies
286 words - 2 minutes
A song on the guidance of stars.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
While the Stars in their courses. Do fight on our side?
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Autumn Flowers
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
Small blossoming flowers in the ground (Autumn Crocus). Graphite filter.
Published 1905
3,615 words - 15 minutes
In a letter to her lover, a woman writes of why she has run away.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
That is why, when I have finished this letter (if I can only manage to finish it) I shall give it to a porter and tell him to post it at the very moment when the train starts. And I shall watch him from the window and feel, as if I were actually saying goodbye to you, that painful oppression of the heart.
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Azathoth
H. P. Lovecraft
A spired building. Graphite filter
Published 1938 in Leaves
482 words - 2 minutes
(Unfinished) - An unnamed man lives in a world stripped of wonder.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
It is enough to know that he dwelt in a city of high walls where sterile twilight reigned, and that he toiled all day among shadow and turmoil, coming home at evening to a room whose one window opened not on the fields and groves but on a dim court where other windows stared in dull despair.
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B24
Arthur Conan Doyle
A dusty, barred prison window. Graphite filter.
Published 1889 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 17, Iss. 99
6,242 words - 25 minutes
A convicted man writes to an attorney explaining how he was framed for a murder.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
May no night pass that you are not haunted by the thought of the man who rots in gaol because you have not done the duty which you are paid to do!
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The Babes In The Wood
Flora Annie Steel
A winding tree. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
924 words - 4 minutes
A dying mother and father entrust their children to their uncle. But the uncle, wanting the inheritance for himself, hires ruffians to do away with the children.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“And if you keep them carefully, Then God will you reward; But if you otherwise should deal, God will your deeds regard.”
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The Bat, the Bramble, and the Seagull
Aesop
A flying bat. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
154 words - 1 minutes
A small origin fable.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Bat, a Bramble, and a Seagull went into partnership and determined to go on a trading voyage together. The Bat borrowed a sum of money for his venture; the Bramble laid in a stock of clothes of vari...
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The Battle of Washington Square
Richard Connell
A U.S. flag flying on a flagpole. Graphite filter.
Published 1924
6,455 words - 26 minutes
A young, vagrant man is drafted and finds that everyone begins to treat him with much more respect, causing him to yearn to be sent to combat and prove himself.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
In his dreams he, single-handed, held the breach against a prodigious number of the enemy. They charged upon him, but he, though bleeding from a dozen wounds, did not retreat. He held them back; with rifle, bombs, bayonet, even fists, he hurled them back until he was ringed round by piles of the slain.
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The Bear and the Travellers
Aesop
A roaring bear. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
160 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on selfishness.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Two Travellers were on the road together, when a Bear suddenly appeared on the scene. Before he observed them, one made for a tree at the side of the road, and climbed up into the branches and hid the...
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The Beast in the Cave
H. P. Lovecraft
A cave with a stream of sunlight falling in. Graphite filter
Published 1918 in The Vagrant
2,475 words - 10 minutes
A man veers off from a caving expedition and loses his way. Then he hears the patting of feet heading towards him.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
These impacts were soft, and stealthy, as of the paws of some feline. Besides, when I listened carefully, I seemed to trace the falls of four instead of two feet.
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The Beautiful Suit
H. G. Wells
A pond full of duckweed. Graphite filter.
Published 1909 in Collier’s, Vol. 43, Iss. 3
1,735 words - 7 minutes
A man is given a suit by his mother but never wears it.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
One night, when he was dreaming of it after his habit, he dreamt he took the tissue paper from one of the buttons, and found its brightness a little faded, and that distressed him mightily in his dream.
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The Bee and Jupiter
Aesop
A bee on its side. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
118 words - 1 minutes
A small origin fable for bees.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Queen Bee from Hymettus flew up to Olympus with some fresh honey from the hive as a present to Jupiter, who was so pleased with the gift that he promised to give her anything she liked to ask for. S...
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Been There Before
Banjo Paterson
A hand throwing a jagged black rock near water. Graphite filter.
Published 1891 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 618
199 words - 1 minutes
A man accepts a bet that he couldn’t throw a stone over the length of the nearby river, only to find that there aren’t any stones within miles of the small town.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
There came a stranger to Walgett town, To Walgett town when the sun was low, And he carried a thirst that was worth a crown, Yet how to quench it he did not know.
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The Beetle Hunter
Arthur Conan Doyle
The eye of an angry, staring man. Graphite filter.
Published 1898 in The Strand, Vol. 15
6,139 words - 25 minutes
A medical man with a passion for beetle collecting finds an ad in the paper perfectly suited for his abilities. But upon meeting the advertisers they give no clues as to why they need a man with such a specific set of skills.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“I wish you to come for a short journey with me, to remain always at my side, and to promise to do 25without question whatever I may ask you, however unreasonable it may appear to you to be.”
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The Belly and the Members
Aesop
A chunk of bread and a goblet of wine. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
123 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on teamwork.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
The Members of the Body once rebelled against the Belly. “You,” they said to the Belly, “live in luxury and sloth, and never do a stroke of work; while we not only have to do all the hard work there i...
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Berenice
Edgar Allan Poe
A woman clutching her face. Graphite filter.
Published 1835 in Southern Literary Messenger
3,131 words - 13 minutes
A man struggles gloommily in life, while his cousin roams through it carelessly, until one day she is struck down by illness.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Disease—a fatal disease, fell like the simoon upon her frame; and, even while I gazed upon her, the spirit of change swept over her, pervading her mind, her habits, and her character, and, in a manner the most subtle and terrible, disturbing even the identity of her person!
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The Bet
Anton Chekhov
Several wine glasses being clinked together. Graphite filter.
Published 1889
2,856 words - 12 minutes
A young lawyer bets an older banker that he could voluntarily last in solitary confinement for fifteen years. The banker agrees to the bet, saying he won’t last more than three or four years.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many years?”
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Between the Dusk of a Summer Night
William Ernest Henley
A sillhouette of an embracing man and woman in a forest. Graphite filter
123 words - 1 minutes
A short love poem.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
O, it’s die we must, but it’s live we can.
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Beware of the Dog
Roald Dahl
A small propellor plane flying away from an explosion. Graphite filter.
Published 1946 in Harper’s Magazine
5,072 words - 21 minutes
A British WWII pilot bails from his plane somewhere near the English Channel, then wakes up in a hospital with a caring nurse and doctor who seem very interested in his squadron.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
Then I shall say, someone help me to get out. I can’t do it alone because I’ve lost one of my legs. They’ll all laugh and think that I’m joking, and I shall say, all right, come and have a look, you unbelieving bastards.
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Beyond Lies The Wub
Phillip K. Dick
In a spaceship, three people stare at a slimy, pig-like being drinking water from a bowl on the floor.
Published 1952 in Planet Stories, Vol. 5, No. 7
2,623 words - 11 minutes
A space team purchase a large pig-like alien to eat on their long journey. But the beast turns out to me more than pig-like.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“But how can any lasting contact be established between your people and mine if you resort to such barbaric attitudes? Eat me? Rather you should discuss questions with me, philosophy, the arts—”
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Beyond the Wall
Ambrose Bierce
A spired building. Graphite Filter.
Published 1907 in Cosmopolitan
3,359 words - 14 minutes
Mohun Dampier tells of a young woman so beautiful he could never speak to her.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
I heard a gentle tapping, which appeared to come from the wall behind my chair. The sound was such as might have been made by a human hand, not as upon a door by one asking admittance, but rather, I thought, as an agreed signal, an assurance of someone’s presence in an adjoining room.
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Beyond the Wall of Sleep
H. P. Lovecraft
A tense, staring eye of a man's face. Graphite filter
Published 1919 in Pine Cones
4,305 words - 18 minutes
A man arrives at a mental asylum, struggling to return his thoughts and attention to the real world whenever he wakes from his vivid dreams.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“We are all roamers of vast spaces and travelers in many ages.”
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The Big Trip Up Yonder
Kurt Vonnegut
A pen writing on lined paper. Graphite filter.
Published 1954 in Galaxy Science Fiction
3,569 words - 15 minutes
In the year 2185, when people no longer age, several generations of the one family live together in an ever increasingly packed house waiting for gramps to cark it and hand over a large inheritance.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
This day, Lou would be disinherited for the eleventh time, and it would take him perhaps six months of impeccable behavior to regain the promise of a share in the estate.
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Big Two-Hearted River
Ernest Hemmingway
Half a dozen swimming trout. Graphite filter.
Published 1925
8,022 words - 33 minutes
A man returns to a town, now burnt to the ground. He wanders around looking at the destroyed buildings and the soot-covered animals.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Go on, hopper,” Nick said, speaking out loud for the first time “Fly away somewhere.”
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Bill, the Ventriloquial Rooster
Henry Lawson
An angry looking rooster. graphite filter.
Published ~1900
1,922 words - 8 minutes
A family discover their rooster has the uncanny ability to throw his crow.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Then we remembered that there wasn’t another rooster within five miles —our only neighbour, an Irishman named Page, didn’t have one at the time— and we’d often heard another cock crow, but didn’t think to take any notice of it.”
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The Birds
Daphne du Maurier
Four birds flying far away in the sky. Graphite Filter..
Published 1952 in The Apple Tree: A Short Novel and Several Long Stories
13,876 words - 56 minutes
Nat Hocken opens his door to a tapping sound and is attacked by a manic bird. Strange as the incident is, things only escalate from there.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
His hammering helped to deafen the sound of the birds, the shuffling, the tapping, and more ominous—he did not want his wife or the children to hear it—the splinter of cracked glass.
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The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat
Aesop
A standing swallow. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
113 words - 1 minutes
A simple fable on loyalty and forthrightness.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
The Birds were at war with the Beasts, and many battles were fought with varying success on either side. The Bat did not throw in his lot definitely with either party, but when things went well for th...
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The Birthmark
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A box of surgical instruments. Graphite filter.
Published 1843 in The Pioneer, Vol. 1, Iss. 3
6,439 words - 26 minutes
A man of science marries a beautiful woman, but he becomes obsessed over a birthmark on her face which he sees as a blemish on what could be perfect.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
His love for his young wife might prove the stronger of the two; but it could only be by intertwining itself with his love of science, and uniting the strength of the latter to his own.
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A Black Affair
W. W. Jacobs
A drawing of a man on a sailing ship reeling in fear at a black cat walking by him.
Published 1896 in The Idler, Vol. 9, No. 4
4,401 words - 18 minutes
After a ship crew’s favourite cat is under threat of being thrown overboard by the skipper, the cook hatches a plan.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
‘You might be old Satan’s brother by the look of you; an’ if the cap’n wants to kill a cat, let it be you.’
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The Black Bull Of Norroway
Flora Annie Steel
A shaggy bull. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
2,431 words - 10 minutes
A humble young girl claims she would be happy to marry even the ‘Black Bull of Norroway’. Soon after a bull turns up at her house asking for her hand.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
But the third, the prettiest and the merriest, tossed her head and said, with a twinkle in her eye, “Why so proud? As for me I would be content with the Black Bull of Norroway.”
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The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe
A cat's eyes in the darkness. Graphite filter.
Published 1843 in The Saturday Post, Vol 23, Issue 1151
3,998 words - 16 minutes
A man suspects his wife’s adopted, black cat to be the source of all his almost paranormal bad luck.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.
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Black Fog
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1905
4,695 words - 19 minutes
A rambunctious Ukrainian barges back into his city friend’s life, determined to ‘Conquer Petersburg.’
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Listen, you poor, benighted provincial”⁠—I was trying to make him feel ashamed⁠—“here in Petersburg no one gets up before eleven. Lie down on the sofa or ask for some tea.”
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Black Joe
Henry Lawson
The silhouttes of two boys jumping on a hill at dusk.
Published 1900 in Over the Sliprails
2,306 words - 10 minutes
The narrator recounts the story of his childhoold friend.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“He gave me a very interesting account of an interview between his father and Queen Victoria, and mentioned casually that his father had walked across the Thames without getting wet.”
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The Black Monk
Anton Chekhov
The angry eye of a staring man. Graphite Filter
Published 1894 in Артист (The Artist)
12,821 words - 52 minutes
A stressed out, overworked man retreats to the country for a break. There he meets a mysterious monk, who tells the man of his great purpose.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
I exist in your imagination, and your imagination is part of nature, so I exist in nature.
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Black Swans
Banjo Paterson
A black swan with three signets. Graphite Filter.
Published 1893 in The Sydney Mail
557 words - 3 minutes
A poem on freedom and nostalgia.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Oh! ye wild black swans, ’twere a world of wonder - For a while to join in your westward flight.
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The Black Veil
Charles Dickens
An expressionless woman clutching her face
Published 1836
4,412 words - 18 minutes
A distressed woman in a black veil begs a surgeon to come to her house and help someone near death.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
There was a desperate earnestness in this woman’s manner, that went to the young man’s heart. He was young in his profession, and had not yet witnessed enough of the miseries which are daily presented before the eyes of its members, to have grown comparatively callous to human suffering.
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A Blackjack Bargainer
O. Henry
Playing cards splayed out over a table. Graphite filter.
Published 1901
5,673 words - 23 minutes
Yancey Goree has lost everything to gambling, including his house.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The most disreputable thing in Yancey Goree’s law office was Goree himself, sprawled in his creaky old arm-chair.
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The Blanched Soldier
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1926 in Liberty
7,705 words - 31 minutes
Mr. James M. Dodd comes to Holmes asking for helping regarding his missing friend from the Boer war. The friend’s family claim that their son isn’t missing and is merely on a long voyage, but Dodd insists something is suspicious.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
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The Blind Man
Kate Chopin
A row of pencils of different lengths. Graphite Filter
Published 1897
752 words - 4 minutes
A blind man walks the street trying to sell pencils.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Then something happened—something horrible happened that made the women faint and the strongest men who saw it grow sick and dizzy. The motorman’s lips were as gray as his face, and that was ashen gray; and he shook and staggered from the superhuman effort he had put forth to stop his car.
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The Blood of the Martyrs
Stephen Vincent Benét
Rusty, worn prison bars viewed from inside.
Published 1937 in Thirteen o’clock, Stories of Several Worlds
6,744 words - 27 minutes
Professor Malzius, imprisoned by the new national regime, is given the chance to return to his research and experiments at his old university. He must, however, follow all the new rules.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Well, it was his own fault. He could have accepted the new regime; some respectable people had done that. He could have fled the country; many honorable people had. A scientist should be concerned with the eternal, not with transient political phenomena; and a scientist should be able to live anywhere.
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Blossom and Fruit
Stephen Vincent Benét
A kissing man and woman, silhouetted in a forest. Graphite filter. Graphite filter.
Published 1937 in Thirteen o’clock, stories of several worlds
5,559 words - 23 minutes
An old man thinks back on his past and wonders if he ever figured out what love was.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Yes, he thought, that is how most people live their actual lives—skimming it through, in a hurry to get to the end and find out who got married and who got rich.
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The Blue Cross
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
A man and priest sit on a bench in front of a bush while two men, one wearing an English style Police helmet look on. Black and white drawing.
Published 1910 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 4
7,470 words - 30 minutes
Parisian detective Valentin lands in London to track down the international criminal Flambeau. But with no reasonable clues to follow, he must follow the mystery of a sugar-cellar full of salt.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“But what else can we do? Don’t you see we must either follow one wild possibility or else go home to bed?”
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The Blue Hotel
Stephen Crane
A fist in punching motion. Graphite Filter.
Published 1899 in The Monster and other stories
10,650 words - 43 minutes
Scully the hotel proprietor wrangles three men at the train station into staying at his hotel. But once in the hotel one of the men spontaneously starts accusing the others of intending to murder him.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Yes, fight! I’ll show you what kind of a man I am! I’ll show you who you want to fight! Maybe you think I can’t fight! Maybe you think I can’t! I’ll show you, you skin, you card-sharp! Yes, you cheated! You cheated! You cheated!”
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The Boar-Pig
Saki
A pig with its snout along the ground, graphite filter.
Published 1912 in Morning Post, Aug 20
1,744 words - 7 minutes
Mrs. Philidore Stossen and her daughter attempt to sneak into a garden party only to run into the precocious young Matilda and her pet boar.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
“A pig is masculine as long as you call it a pig, but if you lose your temper with it and call it a ferocious beast it becomes one of us at once. French is a dreadfully unsexing language.”
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The Boarded Window
Ambrose Bierce
An expressionless woman clutching her face. Graphite Filter.
Published 1889 in San Fransisco Examiner, Jul 14
1,828 words - 8 minutes
The story of the past of a dead man comes to light perhaps as an explanation for his sudden death.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
The man’s name was said to be Murlock. He was apparently seventy years old, actually about fifty. Something besides years had had a hand in his aging.
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The Boarding House
James Joyce
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
2,795 words - 12 minutes
Mrs. Mooney hopes that the esteemed Mr. Doran will marry her daughter, but Mr. Doran is having doubts.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Young men like to feel that there is a young woman not very far away.
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The Body Snatcher
Robert Louis Stevenson
Drawing of two men shocked as they shine a light on and remove a blanket off of a body.
Published 1884 in Pall Mall Gazette, December
7,418 words - 30 minutes
Fettes, an old drunk tells of how he used to be the assistant to a famous anatomist. In charge of acquiring corpses for all the students, he begins to notice odd details such as the freshness of the corpses and the hush-hush nature of the men who bring them.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
‘I know her, I tell you,’ he continued. ‘She was alive and hearty yesterday. It’s impossible she can be dead; it’s impossible you should have got this body fairly.’
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The Bogey-Beast
Flora Annie Steel
The face of an old woman with wrinkles. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
969 words - 4 minutes
A content, elderly woman finds a pot of gold in the woods. But it’s not as it seems.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Now one summer evening, as she was trotting, full of smiles as ever, along the high road to her hovel, what should she see but a big black pot lying in the ditch!
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The Book
H. P. Lovecraft
A splayed open book. Graphite filter
Published 1938
1,149 words - 5 minutes
(Unfinished) - A mysterious book sends the reader on a psychedelic journey.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
While I know I am speaking, I have a vague impression that some strange and perhaps terrible mediation will be needed to bear what I say to the points where I wish to be heard.
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The Bookshop
Aldous Huxley
A wall of books extending into the distance. Graphite Filter.
Published 1920 in Limbo
1,682 words - 7 minutes
A man spots a quaint bookshop that seems out of place amongst the cheap and convenient shops nearby in and out of which people rush.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“It is our cheap press. The ephemeral overwhelms the permanent, the classical.”
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Borderland
Henry Lawson
A lone kangaroo in a plain. Graphite filter.
Published 1892 in The Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 647
580 words - 3 minutes
A lambasting of life in the Australian bush and the poets that fantasise it.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Dreary land in rainy weather, with the endless clouds that drift — O’er the bushman like a blanket that the Lord will never lift.
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The Boscombe Valley Mystery
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1891 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 10
9,614 words - 39 minutes
Charles McCarthy is found dead by Boscombe Pool just after being seen having an argument with his son James. James however insists that he is innocent.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”
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The Boss of the ‘Admiral Lynch’
Banjo Paterson
A four masted ship. Graphite filter.
Published 1898 in The Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 669
691 words - 3 minutes
The narrator tells of a supporter of an ousted Chilean President who refused to surrender.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
And the king of ’em all, I reckon, the man that could stand a pinch - Was the boss of a one-horse gunboat. They called her the ’Admiral Lynch’.
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The Boston Massacre
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A cocked, smoking, shiny rifle. Graphite filter.
Published 1851 in True Stories of History and Biography
1,881 words - 8 minutes
A man tells of the escalation of conflict between the British soldiers and the Boston people that led to the Boston massacre.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He immediately ordered eight soldiers of the main guard to take their muskets and follow him. They marched across the street, forcing their way roughly through the crowd, and pricking the town’s-people with their bayonets.
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The Bottle Imp
Robert Louis Stevenson
A picturesque town on a coast. Graphite filter.
Published 1891 in New York Herald
12,116 words - 49 minutes
A man is offered a strange glass bottle by a man who insists it is responsible for all of his wealth.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Napoleon had this bottle, and by it he grew to be the king of the world; but he sold it at the last, and fell.
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A Bottomless Grave
Ambrose Bierce
A bundle of straw. Graphite filter.
Published 1888 in San Fransisco Examiner, Feb 26
2,769 words - 12 minutes
After a father dies, not because he was poisoned by the mother, a family buries him in the garden, not because anything suspicious happened...
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
When I was nineteen years of age my father had the misfortune to die. He had always had perfect health, and his death, which occurred at the dinner table without a moment’s warning, surprised no one more than himself.
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Boule de Suif
Guy de Maupassant
A stagecoach wheel, graphite filter.
Published 1880
14,381 words - 58 minutes
Ten people from the Prussian-occupied town of Rouen take the chance to escape on a stagecoach on the pretence of commerce, truly planning to never return.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
“My house was well stocked with provisions, and it seemed better to put up with feeding a few soldiers than to banish myself goodness knows where. But when I saw these Prussians it was too much for me!”
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The Bowmen
Arthur Machen
an archer stretching a bow on a hill. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in London Evening News, Sep 29
1,219 words - 5 minutes
In a battle against the Germans, the English receive help from an unexpected ally.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
They were like men who drew the bow, and with another shout their cloud of arrows flew singing and tingling through the air towards the German hosts.
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The Boy and the Filberts
Aesop
Many hazelnuts. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
104 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on restraint.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Boy put his hand into a jar of Filberts, and grasped as many as his fist could possibly hold. But when he tried to pull it out again, he found he couldn’t do so, for the neck of the jar was too smal...
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The Brazilian Cat
Arthur Conan Doyle
Drawing of a man in a suit rushes into a cage as a large panther outside lunges towards him.
Published 1898 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 16
8,051 words - 33 minutes
The indebted Marshall King counts his lucky stars when his wealthy cousin Everard invites him to stay at his magnificent Greylands Court, home to a menagerie of animals taken from exploits in Brazil. Everard’s wife, however, clearly wants King gone at once.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
In the centre of this room, lying in the middle of a golden patch of sunlight, there was stretched a huge creature, as large as a tiger, but as black and sleek as ebony.
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The Brogue
Saki
A rearing, bridled, dark horse.
Published 1914
1,934 words - 8 minutes
The Mullet family try and try to foist off their nightmarishly untamed hunting horse to no avail. Eventually Toby Mullet fools the young bachelor Mr. Penricarde to buy the horse only to regret dooming him to an almost certain fatal fall when he engages a daughter of the Mullet family.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Write ‘Votes for Women’ on the stable door, and the thing would pass for a Suffragette outrage.”
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A Bunch of Roses
Banjo Paterson
A hand delicately holding a white rose. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 744
196 words - 1 minutes
A poem on grief.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Only her memory lives to-night.
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The Burden Of Itys
Oscar Wilde
A swan with three signets. Graphite Filter.
Published 1881
2,771 words - 12 minutes
A poem on the beauty of the Thames river.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
When early on some sapphire Easter morn In a high litter red as blood or sin the Pope is borne.
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A Burlesque Biography
Mark Twain
A large sailing ship on the waters. Graphite filter.
Published 1871 in The Galaxy
2,134 words - 9 minutes
The author resentfully capitulates to demands for an autobiography, writing of a lineage of ancestors who get arrested for forgery or thrown off of Columbus’s ship to America.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Augustus Twain seems to have made something of a stir about the year 1160. He was as full of fun as he could be, and used to take his old saber and sharpen it up, and get in a convenient place on a dark night, and stick it through people as they went by, to see them jump.
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A Bush Christening
Banjo Paterson
A splash of water in the air. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The Bulletin, Vol. 13, No. 722
430 words - 2 minutes
After mistakenly thinking he’s about to be branded, a boy runs away from his christening.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few, And men of religion are scanty, On a road never cross’d ’cept by folk that are lost, One Michael Magee had a shanty.
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A Bushman’s Song
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1892 in The Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 671
466 words - 2 minutes
A man travels around unable to find a stable and worthwhile job.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
I’m travellin’ down the Castlereagh, and I’m a station hand, I’m handy with the ropin’ pole, I’m handy with the brand, And I can ride a rowdy colt, or swing the axe all day, But there’s no demand for a station-hand along the Castlereagh.
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The Butterfly that Stamped
Rudyard Kipling
A butterfly perched on a flower. Graphite Filter.
Published 1912 in Just So Stories
3,323 words - 14 minutes
The great king Suleiman-bin-Daoud suffers the complaints of his 999 wives, but is too humble to do anything about it.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Don’t you know that if I stamped with my foot all Suleiman-bin-Daoud’s Palace and this garden here would immediately vanish in a clap of thunder.”
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By the Waters of Babylon
Stephen Vincent Benét
A man in ragged clothing and with a bow walks through a ruined metal city full of stray cats.
Published 1937 in The Saturday Evening Post, July 31
5,534 words - 23 minutes
It is forbidden to go East, to the place of the Gods. But a son of a priest has a dream that he shall go there. And go there he does.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
It is forbidden to travel east. It is forbidden to cross the river. It is forbidden to go to the Place of the Gods. All these things are forbidden.
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Cain
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
An old man with long hair and beard. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
3,015 words - 13 minutes
A Russian captain of a punitive expedition is visited in the night by a man he has sentenced to death without cause.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
What would you answer, not to a judge or to the authorities, or even to the emperor, but to your own conscience, should it ask you, ‘Why did you enter upon this terrible, unjust slaughter?’
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The Call of Cthulhu
H. P. Lovecraft
Etching of a tentacle faced, winged beast bursting out of the ocean.
Published 1928 in Weird Tales, Vol. 11, No. 2
11,865 words - 48 minutes
A man inherits a manuscript from his uncle, describing cases of insanity and mania sprouting at the same time every year around the globe, along with dreams of a titanic, petrifying ‘Thing’.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
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Caporushes
Flora Annie Steel
A woman with curly locks in a ball gown by a castle. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
2,620 words - 11 minutes
After being kicked out of her home, a young girl makes a cap for herself out of rushes so that she does not attract any attention for having fine clothes.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
When her task was finished she put on her robe of rushes and it hid all her fine clothes, and she put on the cap and it hid all her beautiful hair, so that she looked quite a common country girl.
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Captain Rogers
W. W. Jacobs
An old, bearded man. Graphite filter.
Published 1901 in Harper’s, Vol. 102
3,971 words - 16 minutes
A man barges into an inn, demanding the innkeeper treat him like a king or else a certain, dastardly past might come to surface.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
For fifteen years I have lived a decent, honest life. Pray God for your own sinful soul, that the devil in me does not wake again.
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A Case of Eavesdropping
Algernon Blackwood
A large, ornate bed beneath two glass windows. Graphite filter.
Published 1900 in The Pall Mall Magazine
5,729 words - 23 minutes
Shorthouse takes up residence in a room as he tries to get his life together, but the neighbours argue at night and he can never catch them and tell them off.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“You know she will give you anything. You have only been married a few months. If you ask and give a plausible reason you can get all we want and more.”
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A Case of Identity
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1891 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2
6,971 words - 28 minutes
A woman comes to Holmes asking for him to find her husband who left her at the altar.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“My dear fellow,” said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, “life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.
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The Case of Lady Sannox
Arthur Conan Doyle
Drawing of two men in suits looking at a bed with an arm falling off the side.
Published 1893 in The Idler, Vol. 4
3,770 words - 16 minutes
The ambitious surgeon Douglas Stone and the brilliant Lady Sannox care little for hiding their affair from the public and the vapid Lord Sannox.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
But he had promised Lady Sannox to see her that evening and it was already half-past eight. His hand was outstretched to the bell to order the carriage when he heard the dull thud of the knocker. An instant later there was the shuffling of feet in the hall, and the sharp closing of a door.
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The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe
A brick wall. Graphite filter.
Published 1846 in Godey’s Lady’s Book, Vol. 33, Iss. 5
2,323 words - 10 minutes
A scorned man invites his rival to down into a cellar to ‘verify that his expensive cask of Amontillado is legitimate.’
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.
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The Cat
Banjo Paterson
A stern looking cat sitting down outside. Graphite Filter.
Published ~1917
1,093 words - 5 minutes
The author describes the character of the cat.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
But watch him as the shades of evening fall, and you see the cat as he really is.
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A Catastrophe
H. G. Wells
Rusty coins in the palms of someones hands. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in New Budget
3,082 words - 13 minutes
Winslow owns a small shop. He isn’t selling well, and has an outstanding debt to a wholesaler.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Winslow was always more or less excited by a customer.
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The Cats of Ulthar
H. P. Lovecraft
A house cat sitting outside. Graphite filter
Published 1920 in The Tryout
1,347 words - 6 minutes
The narrator explains how in Ulthar the law against killing cats arose not out of sympathy, but out of fear.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
It was fully a week before the villagers noticed that no lights were appearing at dusk in the windows of the cottage under the trees.
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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Mark Twain
A frog with a blank stare. Graphite filter.
Published 1865
2,570 words - 11 minutes
Simon Wheeler tells a tale to the narrator of a man who tamed a frog to jump higher than any other. Wheeler gives no indication that he believes the story to be funny or false despite the wacky plot.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
He ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal’klated to edercate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump.
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Celephaïs
H. P. Lovecraft
A lance-wielding man on an armoured horse. Graphite filter
Published 1922 in Rainbow
2,522 words - 11 minutes
A man dreams of a majestic city above the sea full of glorious knights, rivers and ships. Desperate to return he drugs himself to sleep over and over.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
For when as children we listen and dream, we think but half-formed thoughts, and when as men we try to remember, we are dulled and prosaic with the poison of life.
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A Certain Lady
Dorothy Parker
A young woman with braided hair. Graphite filter.
Published 1924 in Life, Vol. 84, Iss. 2179
187 words - 1 minutes
A poem on fickle love.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
And all the straining things within my heart You'll never know.
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The Chain of Aforgomon
Clark Ashton Smith
A drawing of a shirtless man with his palm raised to the sky next to a robed man in a garden.
Published 1935 in Weird Tales, Vol. 26, No. 6
6,524 words - 27 minutes
After his death, all memory and evidence of John Milwarp seems to be fading from the world, a diary of his experiments with strange drugs may be the only explanation of the queer phenomenon.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
Sometimes I almost doubt that he ever existed. It is as if the man, and all that pertains to him, were being erased from human record by some mysterious acceleration of the common process of obliteration.
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The Chamber of Life
G. Peyton Wertenbaker
Etching of a man looking up a hill at a tall tower with a large globe in the distance.
Published 1929 in Amazing Stories, Vol. 4, No. 7
11,168 words - 45 minutes
A man wakes up halfway through drowning in a lake. After clambering up the bank, he starts to piece together a strange series of memories of experimental technologies and a strange world full of beautiful nature and even more beautiful people.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“A picture with sound and color, reproducing faithfully the ordinary life about us, its tints and voices, even the noises of the city—or traffic passing in the street and newsboys crying the scores of the afternoon games—vividly and naturally.”
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A Chameleon
Anton Chekhov
A public crowd listens to large policeman with a dark trenchcoat. Hand Drawn.
Published 1884 in Осколки (Fragments), No. 36
1,253 words - 6 minutes
A policeman tries to find and punish the owner of an unclaimed dog which has bitten a man walking on the street.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“So you bite, you damned brute?” Otchumyelov hears suddenly. “Lads, don’t let him go! Biting is prohibited nowadays! Hold him! ah . . . ah!”
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A Charm
Rudyard Kipling
A bush of lilacs. Graphite filter.
Published 1910 in Rewards and Fairies
185 words - 1 minutes
A poem on remembrance.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Not the great nor well bespoke; But the mere uncounted folk.
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A Child’s Dream of a Star
Charles Dickens
A shining star. Graphite filter.
Published 1850 in Household Words, No. 2
1,241 words - 5 minutes
A little boy’s sister dies, but he sees her in his dreams.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Now, these rays were so bright, and they seemed to make such a shining way from earth to heaven, that when the child went to his solitary bed, he dreamed about the star; and dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels.
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The Child’s Story
Charles Dickens
A smiling young boy. Graphite filter.
Published 1852
1,691 words - 7 minutes
A traveller meets many people upon a magical journey.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
I am always remembering. Come and remember with me!
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Chiming a Dream
William Ernest Henley
A calm beach coast. Graphite filter.
Published 1888 in A Book of Verses
162 words - 1 minutes
A poem on meeting a woman on a beach.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A dream of the sea in her eyes—And the kiss of the sea in her hair.
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Cinderella
Brothers Grimm
A woman with curly locks in a ball gown by a castle. Graphite filter.
Published 1812 in Grimms’ Fairy Tales
2,629 words - 11 minutes
A young girl is pushed around by her step-mother and step-sisters until one day she manages to make it into the king’s ball.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“No one shall be my wife but she whose foot this golden slipper fits.”
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The City Bushman
Henry Lawson
A man in a suit and hat. Graphite filter.
Published 1892 in The Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 651
1,429 words - 6 minutes
A critique of men who romantisise the country while real bushmen toil under the sun.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
For the drought will go on drying while there’s anything to dry — Then it rains until you’d fancy it would bleach the sunny sky.
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The City of the Gone Away
Ambrose Bierce
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Published 1888 in San Fransisco Examiner, Dec 2
2,195 words - 9 minutes
A man sets up a physician’s practice in a town. Having no experience in medicine matters to him not, and he buys a diploma from an eminent forgerer.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Awakening from my dream, I collected my few belongings, bade adieu to my erring parents and departed out of that land, pausing at the grave of my grandfather, who had been a priest, to take an oath that never again, Heaven helping me, would I earn an honest penny.
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The City of the Singing Flame
Clark Ashton Smith
Two men walking amongst a city full of aliens.
Published 1931 in Wonder Stories, Vol. 3, No. 2
15,602 words - 63 minutes
Philip Hastane’s friend Giles Angarth, a semi-famous author, has disappeared along with another artist. Hastane receives a letter from the missing man, describing a mysterious world he discovered that houses an enchanting fountain of flame and alluring music.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
The temptation to return is more cogent than ever; the call of that remembered music is sweeter than the voice of a loved woman.
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Clair De Lune
Guy de Maupassant
A kissing man and woman, silhouetted in a forest. Graphite filter.
Published 1882 in Le Gaulois, Ser. 2, No. 1022
1,767 words - 8 minutes
A priest is appalled to discover that his young niece has found a lover.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
But he hated woman—hated her unconsciously, and despised her by instinct. He often repeated the words of Christ: “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” and he would add: “It seems as though God, Himself, were dissatisfied with this work of His.”
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Clancy of the Overflow
Banjo Paterson
A pencil sketch of sketch itself of a man on a horse being drawn into a binder.
Published 1889 in The Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 514
366 words - 2 minutes
A city man contemplates the life of a rural stock drover.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing, For the drover’s life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.
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Clay
James Joyce
The face of an old woman with wrinkles. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
2,649 words - 11 minutes
Maria, who works at a Magdalene Laundry, is constantly reminded of her unmarried status by the people around her.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
And when she laughed her grey-green eyes sparkled with disappointed shyness and the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin.
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A Clean Well Lighted Place
Ernest Hemmingway
several men at a bar. Graphite filter.
Published 1933
1,434 words - 6 minutes
Two waiters discuss the lone, elderly man left in their cafe.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?”
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The Clockmaker
Robert Louis Stevenson
An ugly, broken window. Graphite filter.
1,451 words - 6 minutes
After a glass is left unattended for weeks, the micro-organisms develop society and science and begin to question the workings of their universe: the room.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
The cultus of the Clockmaker succeeded in the place of earlier religions, water worship, ancestor worship and the barbarous adoration of the chimney piece.
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A Clump Of Lilacs
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A bunch of lilacs flowers. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
2,040 words - 9 minutes
Army officer and student Nikolai accidentally blotches his survey drawing, his bluff that it was just a small bush fails. He is distraught and sure that the examiners will accuse him of having copied the survey from someone else, but his wife comes up with a plan...
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Nikolai Yevgrafovitch Almazof hardly waited for his wife to open the door to him; he went straight to his study without taking off his hat or coat. His wife knew in a moment by his frowning face and nervously-bitten underlip that a great misfortune had occurred.
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The Cobbler Turned Doctor
Aesop
A small glass vial with smoke inside. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
172 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on charlatanry.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A very unskilful Cobbler, finding himself unable to make a living at his trade, gave up mending boots and took to doctoring instead. He gave out that he had the secret of a universal antidote against ...
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The Colour out of Space
H. P. Lovecraft
Drawing of two men looking out a window at smoke or steam rising out of a well.
Published 1927 in Amazing Stories, Vol. 2 No. 6
12,406 words - 50 minutes
A meteorite crashes into a small town in a burst of light. Upon taking samples of the rock, scientists discover peculiar qualities including an indescribable emitted light and a perpetual heat.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
Into the fine flavour of the pears and apples had crept a stealthy bitterness and sickishness, so that even the smallest of bites induced a lasting disgust. It was the same with the melons and tomatoes, and Nahum sadly saw that his entire crop was lost.
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Come-By-Chance
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1891 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 579
380 words - 2 minutes
Looking through the postal guide, the narrator discovers the isolated and hard-to-find, mystical location of ‘Come-by-Chance.’
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
No location was assigned it, not a thing to help one find it, Just an N which stood for northward, and the rest was all unsaid.
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Coming
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Two old-fashioned suffragettes with 'votes for women' sashes
Published 1893
111 words - 1 minutes
A short poem on women’s emancipation.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Now, for the world for which she was created - Comes woman to her own.
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The Coming of the Ice
G. Peyton Wertenbaker
Drawing of a man surrounded by knee-high people with large heads and helmets. Outside are strange buildings and flying ships.
Published 1926 in Amazing Stories, Vol. 1, No. 3
5,924 words - 24 minutes
The last man on earth tells of his life as the first man to gain immortality through surgery.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I recall only chaotic visions of fire and thunder and hell. It was all incomprehensible to me: like a bizarre dream, things happened, people rushed about, but I never knew what they were doing.
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The Coming-Out of Maggie
O. Henry
A man in a tuxedo tipping his hat. Graphite Filter.
Published 1905
2,553 words - 11 minutes
Maggie has never had her own “fellow” to take her to the local dance. But one day she turns up with a man taller and more charming than anyone in the hall.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Usually at the weekly hops Maggie kept a spot on the wall warm with her back.
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The Cone
H. G. Wells
The insides of a factory with large hooks and high walkways. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in Unicorn
4,207 words - 17 minutes
The manager of an ironworks gives a tour to an artist secretly having an affair with his wife. The artist is paranoid as to whether the manager knows the truth, and they find themselves coincidentally visiting many parts of the factory capable of crushing, burning and boiling a man.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
And look at those furnaces of mine, how they rise upon us as we come down the hill. That to the right is my pet—seventy feet of him. I packed him myself, and he’s boiled away cheerfully with iron in his guts for five long years.
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Confession
Jack London
A brass, ring, door knocker. Graphite filter.
Published 1876
4,961 words - 20 minutes
A homeless man must devise elaborate stories on the fly to convince men and women to give him money and food.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I was an English apprentice, I said. And they said that I didn’t talk like an English boy. It was up to me to create on the instant. I had been born and reared in the United States.
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Confessions of a Humorist
O. Henry
A pen writing on lined paper. Graphite filter.
Published ~1912
3,325 words - 14 minutes
A clerk earns popularity as the towns humourist after a successful speech and a string of clever quips. Soon he is out of his drudgy office job and writing for a weekly publication, but the new work paradoxically begins to remove the humour from his life.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
I found myself listening to catch available ideas from the conversation of my friends. Sometimes I chewed my pencil and gazed at the wall paper for hours trying to build up some gay little bubble of unstudied fun.
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Conroy’s Gap
Banjo Paterson
Three men with wide-brimmed hats riding horses in the outback.
Published 1890 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 566
1,107 words - 5 minutes
A trooper catches a fugitive at Conroy’s gap. But the captive man’s girl hatches a plan for his escape.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
D’you know the place? It’s a wayside inn, A low grog-shanty — a bushman trap, Hiding away in its shame and sin Under the shelter of Conroy’s Gap.
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Cool Air
H. P. Lovecraft
A man in a suit with bandages wrapped around all of his facial features in a wary posture with his hands lifted slightly.
Published 1928 in Tales of Magic and Mystery, Vol. 1, No. 4
3,397 words - 14 minutes
A man moves into a lodging downstairs from a doctor who keeps himself to his room in freezing conditions and experiments with chemical concoctions.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
You ask me to explain why I am afraid of a draught of cool air; why I shiver more than others upon entering a cold room, and seem nauseated and repelled when the chill of evening creeps through the heat of a mild autumn day.
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Counterparts
James Joyce
Wine being poured into a glass. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
4,089 words - 17 minutes
A man has difficulties with his boss, and resorts to drink.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“Eh? Are you going to stand there all day? Upon my word, Farrington, you take things easy!”
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A Country Doctor
Franz Kafka
A bunch of medical instruments incl tweezers and scissors. Graphite Filter.
Published 1919
2,527 words - 11 minutes
A country doctor is desparate for a horse to make it to a dying patient when a pair of horses and a groom appear in his house out of nowhere.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“In such cases the gods do help. They send the missing horse, even add a second one because it’s urgent, and even throw in a groom as a bonus.”
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The Country of the Blind
H. G. Wells
A drawing of a man overlooking a cliff and seeing people walking on paths far away.
Published 1904 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 27, Iss. 160
9,523 words - 39 minutes
A mountain-climber has a fall and finds himself in a geographically isolated region between the mountains. He discovers a culture of people who have lived so long by themselves they have developed peculiar qualities.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
They turned their faces this way and that, and Nunez gesticulated with freedom. But they did not appear to see him for all his gestures, and after a time, directing themselves towards the mountains far away to the right, they shouted as if in answer.
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The Coup De Grâce
Ambrose Bierce
A soldier next to a cannon. Graphite filter.
Published 1889 in San Francisco Examiner, Jun 30
2,155 words - 9 minutes
A solider finds his friend mortally wounded after a battle. With a revolver in hand, He ponders what he ought to do.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
For that which we accord to even the meanest creature without sense to demand it, denying it only to the wretched of our own race: for the blessed release, the rite of uttermost compassion, the coup de grace.
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A Coup D’etat
Guy de Maupassant
A crystal crown sitting on a round, cloth-covered table
Published 1883
3,323 words - 14 minutes
After the monarchy falls in Paris, a part-time revolutionary leader in the small farming town of Canneville struggles to motivate his volunteers to oust the local, royalist-loyal mayor.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
“Here, my friends, go eat and drink; only leave me a detachment of ten men to guard against anybody’s leaving the town-hall.”
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The Crab and His Mother
Aesop
A small crab on the sand next to a branch. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
57 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on hypocrisy.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
An Old Crab said to her son, “Why do you walk sideways like that, my son? You ought to walk straight.” The Young Crab replied, “Show me how, dear mother, and I’ll follow your example.” The Old Crab tr...
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The Creatures That Time Forgot
Ray Bradbury
A misty valley among tall cliffs. Graphite filter.
Published 1946 in Planet Stories, Vol. 3, No. 4
15,480 words - 62 minutes
A boy is born into a race of people who live only eight days.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
What kind of life is this where every last instant is drenched with fear and alert with death? Am I to be denied even some bit of real life?
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The Crooked Man
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 6
7,126 words - 29 minutes
Mr. James Barclay is found dead in his room, with his wife unconscious on a chair. Holmes is on the case.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
His mistress had ceased to scream and was stretched insensible upon a couch, while with his feet tilted over the side of an arm-chair, and his head upon the ground near the corner of the fender, was lying the unfortunate soldier stone dead in a pool of his own blood.
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Cry From a Far Planet
Tom Godwin
A large tiger-like being bites on the elbow of a man in front of spaceship controls.
Published 1958 in Amazing Stories, Vol. 32, No. 9
4,846 words - 20 minutes
An explorer tries to communicate with the natives of a far away planet, but the aliens are heavily suspicious of him.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“The damned communication barrier has been the cause behind the loss of every ship. And there is nothing we can do about it. We’re stymied by it....”
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The Crystal Egg
H. G. Wells
A misty planet. Graphite filter.
Published 1897 in The New Review, Vol. 16, Iss. 96
6,831 words - 28 minutes
A curious, crystal egg begins to show visions that become clearer every day. Two friends try to investigate its meaning.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
The clergyman, without any ceremony, asked the price of the crystal egg. Mr. Cave glanced nervously towards the door leading into the parlour, and said five pounds.
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Cynthia
Aldous Huxley
A braided woman touching a tree. Graphite Filter.
Published 1920 in Limbo
2,394 words - 10 minutes
A man writes of meeting his eccentric friend who recounts his new obsession with a woman he met at the theatre.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I can sympathize with people’s pains, but not with their pleasures. There is something curiously boring about somebody else’s happiness.”
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Dagon
H. P. Lovecraft
Mud-caked ground. Graphite filter
Published 1919 in The Vagrant, Issue #11
2,213 words - 9 minutes
A WWII POW escapes a German ship and grounds himself ashore a murky, uncharted island.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Then suddenly I saw it. With only a slight churning to mark its rise to the surface, the thing slid into view above the dark waters.
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The Damned Thing
Ambrose Bierce
Cat eyes in the darkness. Graphite Filter
Published 1893 in Town Topics, Dec 7
3,229 words - 13 minutes
Hugh Morgan has died, and investigators slowly learn of the inexplicable, violent and perhaps supernatural way in which he did.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
The bushes were now quiet, and the sounds had ceased, but Morgan was as attentive to the place as before. ‘What is it? What the devil is it?’ I asked.
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Daniel Webster and the Sea Serpent
Stephen Vincent Benét
Bubbles in the water. Graphite filter
Published 1937 in Saturday Evening Post, May 22
5,845 words - 24 minutes
Dan’l Webster and his friends are fishing when they catch on the lines the leviathan from scriptures herself.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Dan’l Webster hated to do it. But he couldn’t have a sea serpent living in Green Harbor River and scaring the stock—not to speak of the universal consternation and panic there’d be in the countryside when such a thing was known”
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A Dark Brown Dog
Stephen Crane
The face of a brown dog. Graphite filter.
Published 1901 in The Cosmopolitan, Vol. 30, Iss. 5
2,337 words - 10 minutes
A child adopts a wandering dog into his family.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
The father of the family, it appears, was in a particularly savage temper that evening, and when he perceived that it would amaze and anger everybody if such a dog were allowed to remain, he decided that it should be so.
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The Dark Eidolon
Clark Ashton Smith
A rearing, bridled horse. Graphite filter.
Published 1935 in Weird Tales, Vol. 25, No. 1
10,455 words - 42 minutes
A beggar boy is trampled by an indifferent young prince and is taken in by a powerful wizard and trained in dark arts. One day, the beggar boy has become a famed sorcerer and the prince a king, and revenge is due.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
But never could he forget the miseries of his boyhood in Ummaos and the wrong he had endured from Zotulla; and year by year he spun over in his thoughts the black web of revenge.
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The Darling
Anton Chekhov
A young woman with braided hair. Graphite filter.
Published 1899 in семья (Family), No. 1
4,955 words - 20 minutes
An affectionate woman is known by everyone as ‘Darling’. She cannot bear being alone and latches onto the first man that comforts her.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“Pity me, good people, all alone in the world!”
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A Day in the Country
Anton Chekhov
A little song-bird carrying a crumb in its mouth. graphite filter.
Published 1886
2,387 words - 10 minutes
A little beggar girl asks help from a man named Terenty.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“In the count's copse Danilka stuck his hand into a hole in a tree, and he can't get it out. Come along, uncle, do be kind and pull his hand out!”
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The Daylight Is Dying
Banjo Paterson
The sunrise. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses
226 words - 1 minutes
A description of night-time in the bush.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
When night doth her glories Of starshine unfold, ’Tis then that the stories Of bush-land are told.
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A Day’s Lodging
Jack London
A snow covered, log cabin. Graphite filter.
Published 1907 in Love of Life and Other Stories
5,541 words - 23 minutes
A man takes shelter from the freezing Klondike region in an abandoned cabin, only to find another man and a woman knocking on the door soon after. After letting them in however, the woman turns out to be the last woman he expected to meet so far from home.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“There was a sort of scandal in faculty circles some two or three years ago. The wife of one of the English professors—er, if you will pardon me, Mrs. Haythorne—disappeared with some San Francisco doctor, I understood, though his name does not just now come to my lips.”
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The Dead
James Joyce
Multiple wine glasses being clinked together. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
15,605 words - 63 minutes
Gabriel Conroy and his wife Greta go to a Christmas party, where Gabriel is expected to make a speech. Through many conversations, Gabriel learns a lot about the other guests, and about his wife.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Why is it that words like these seem dull and cold? Is it because there is no word tender enough to be your name?
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Dead Woman’s Secret
Guy de Maupassant
A letter and envelope. Graphite filter.
Published 1880
1,395 words - 6 minutes
A man and woman grieve over their mother who has passed away. To relive her life, they decide to read some of her letters.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He snatched the letter from her and looked for the signature. There was none, but only under the words, “The man who adores you.”
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A Deal in Old Masters
Aldous Huxley
Drawing of two men and a young woman surrounding a large painting of a young woman in a 19th century dress.
Published 1923 in Strand Magazine, Vol. 65
4,331 words - 18 minutes
An art dealer shows a painting of a woman to a wealthy man and tells of the love affair behind the picture.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Lady Hurtmore would have been more than human if she had been able to resist him. She was not more than human.”
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A Deal In Ostriches
H. G. Wells
A wooden, five-masted sailing ship on the sea. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in Pall Mall Gazette, December Edition
1,830 words - 8 minutes
A domesticated ostrich is reported to have stolen a jewel from off a man’s turban, one worth thousands of pounds and disappeared back into its small herd. Everyone that hears of the rumour turns up to the auction of the herd, desperate for a chance to retrieve the diamond.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
You’d have thought five ostriches would have ruled cheap on an East Indiaman. But the point was, one of ’em had swallowed a diamond.
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A Death Bed
Rudyard Kipling
A luxurious, old-fashioned bed under a large window. Graphite filter.
Published 1919 in The Years Between
296 words - 2 minutes
A poem on a dying slowly.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Some die wholly in half a breath. Some—give trouble for half a year.
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A Death in the Country
Stephen Vincent Benét
A wooden coffin with a cross. Graphite filter
Published 1937 in Thirteen o’clock, Stories of Several Worlds
8,181 words - 33 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“The clever people they knew were entirely right, but most of them were deadly afraid of death.”
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The Death of a Government Clerk
Anton Chekhov
A man in a tuxedo tipping his hat. Graphite Filter.
Published 1883
950 words - 4 minutes
Ivan, a government clerk, accidentally sneezes on a general and is mortified.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
He saw that an old gentleman sitting in front of him in the first row of the stalls was carefully wiping his bald head and his neck with his glove and muttering something to himself.
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The Death of Halpin Frayser
Ambrose Bierce
The intense staring eyes of a man.
Published 1891 in The Wave, Dec 19
5,711 words - 23 minutes
A man wakes up in a forest speaking the name “Catherine LaRue”—a name he doesn’t even recognise himself.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
The man was Halpin Frayser. He lived in St. Helena, but where he lives now is uncertain, for he is dead.
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A Defenceless Creature
Anton Chekhov
A man with a suit and cane, tipping his hat. Graphite Filter.
Published 1887
1,755 words - 8 minutes
A bank manager struggles to deal with a particularly determined old lady.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I’ve had the law of three lodgers, and I will make you flop down at my feet for your saucy words!”
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The Defenders
Phillip K. Dick
Drawing of two men, one looking down a long tunnel filled with large metal mortar shells.
Published 1953 in Galaxy Science Fiction, Vol. 5, No. 4
8,519 words - 35 minutes
Humanity has retreated underground to avoid the horrors of a permanent war, but strange messages are coming from the proxy war-robots running the surface.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
Now the surface was a lethal desert of slag and rolling clouds. Endless clouds drifted back and forth, blotting out the red Sun. Occasionally something metallic stirred, moving through the remains of a city, threading its way across the tortured terrain of the countryside.
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Demir-kayá
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A wood fire. Graphite filter.
1,072 words - 5 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Wounded and bleeding, Demir-Kayá lay by the fire in the inaccessible cave where he found refuge with wild shepherds of the mountains. But in the middle of the night a bright angel with a flaming sword appeared before him.
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The Demon of the Flower
Clark Ashton Smith
A leafy vine. Graphite filter
Published 1933 in Astounding Stories, Vol. 12, No. 4
3,842 words - 16 minutes
On a strange planet, the human-like inhabitants are ruled by a lordly class of predatory plants, led by a single, large, godly flower. But a high-priest known as Lunithi strays from unquestioning worship when it his own betrothed that is asked to be sacrificed.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
There were dim myths of some primordial ruler who had dared to refuse the required sacrifice; and whose people, in consequence, had been decimated by a mortal war with the serpentine plants.
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The Descendant
H. P. Lovecraft
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite filter
Published 1938 in Leaves
1,502 words - 7 minutes
(Unfinished) - Williams befriends a man known to have been a scholar but has now become mad. Eventually the man reveals his strange past.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
In London there is a man who screams when the church bells ring.
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A Descent into the Maelstrom
Edgar Allan Poe
A wooden, five-masted sailing ship on the sea. Graphite filter.
Published 1841 in Graham’s Magazine, May Edition
6,876 words - 28 minutes
Overlooking the ocean from atop a craggy cliff, one man tells another of how he and his two brothers were dragged into the maelstrom below and how he survived.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Here the vast bed of waters, seamed and scarred into a thousand conflicting channels, burst suddenly into phrensied convulsion.”
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Desiree’s Baby
Kate Chopin
A blanketed baby in a basket. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in Vogue, Vol. 1, Iss. 5
2,161 words - 9 minutes
Desiree, once found as an abandoned toddler, now has her own child. But her husband, usually a calm man, has become aggressive and reclusive for an unknown reason.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
It was no wonder ... that Armand Aubigny riding by and seeing her there, had fallen in love with her.
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The Detective Detector
O. Henry
The silhouette of a gun pointed down and a hand raised in fear. Graphite Filter.
Published 1917 in Waifs and Strays
1,756 words - 8 minutes
A criminal makes the preposterous claim of being able to track down a New York detective.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“When our burglars walk into our houses and politely demand, thousands of dollars’ worth of jewels, and then dine and bang the piano an hour or two before leaving, how do you, a mere murderer, expect to come in contact with the detective that is looking for you?”
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The Devil and Daniel Webster
Stephen Vincent Benét
A pitchfork lying next to a clump of hay. Graphite filter.
Published 1936 in The Saturday Evening Post, October 24
5,993 words - 24 minutes
After hardship and sickness, the farmer Jabez Stone sells his soul to the devil for good fortune. Come the day of his reckoning, he wonders if the famous lawyer Daniel Webster could help him out.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Mr. Stone is an American citizen, and no American citizen may be forced into the service of a foreign prince. We fought England for that in ’12 and we’ll fight all hell for it again!”
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The Devil in Iron
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
In a forest, Conan looks at a strange murky creature.
Published 1934 in Weird Tales, Vol. 24, No. 2
12,290 words - 50 minutes
A lord of a coastal town allows a princess to ‘escape’, hoping that it will draw out the formidable barbarian Conan for an easy capture.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“If we could trap Conan on that island, alone, we could hunt him down at our leisure, with bows, as men hunt a lion.”
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A Diagnosis of Death
Ambrose Bierce
An old man with long hair and beard, Graphite filter
Published 1901 in New York Journal, Dec 8
1,279 words - 6 minutes
Hawver rents out a house from a doctor gone AWOL, only for the doctor to mysteriously appear in the house and leave again.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“He held that it was possible in the case of many a person in good health to forecast his death with precision, several months in advance of the event.”
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The Diamond Maker
H. G. Wells
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in Pall Mall Budget
2,938 words - 12 minutes
The protagonist meets a man who claims to ‘make’ diamonds, and is sick and tired of no one believing him.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
No doubt it is very absurd. You will not believe me even when I tell you, so that it is fairly safe to tell you. And it will be a comfort to tell someone.
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Dick Whittington and His Cat
Flora Annie Steel
A house cat sitting outside. Graphite filter
Published 1918
3,072 words - 13 minutes
A poor boy decides to go to London, where he hears people sing and dance all day long and the streets are filled with gold.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
How far it was and how many days they took over the journey I do not know, but in due time Dick found himself in the wonderful city which he had heard so much of and pictured to himself so grandly. But oh! how disappointed he was when he got there.
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The Die-Hard
Stephen Vincent Benét
An old man with white hair and beard.
Published 1938
6,630 words - 27 minutes
An isolated old man take the imaginative and young Jimmy under his wing, telling him how much better he believes life was before 1850.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
And then there was Carrie, the cook. She’d have to be a slave again, of course, and though Jimmy Williams didn’t imagine that she’d mind, now and then he had just a suspicion that she might.
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The Dimension of Chance
Clark Ashton Smith
A forest valley between rocky cliffs and hills. Graphite filter.
Published 1932 in Wonder Stories, Vol. 4, No. 6
8,772 words - 36 minutes
Two American soldiers piloting a plane chase after another plane holding a Japanese spy. The fleeing plane disappears into a blurry cloud and the Americans follow, finding themselves somewhere logic does not apply.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
From their new and close vantage, however, there was only one stream, which, flowing down the valley-bottom against the barring slope, ran turbulently uphill in a series of skyward-leaping rapids and cascades!
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The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1911 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 42
7,665 words - 31 minutes
Holmes sends Watson to Lausanne, Switzerland to find the missing Lady Frances Carfax.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Where is your warrant?” Holmes half drew a revolver from his pocket. “This will have to serve till a better one comes.”
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The Disciple
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A big steamboat on the water. Graphite filter.
Published 1905
5,010 words - 21 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Not even half an hour had passed before the table was covered with heaps of banknotes, little stacks of gold and piles of silver. The banker was losing all the time, and, with all this, his portrayal of amazement and indignation was done with exceeding verisimilitude.
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The Disintegration Machine
Arthur Conan Doyle
An assortment of cogs and gears. Graphite Filter
Published 1929 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 77, No. 457
4,822 words - 20 minutes
A journalist and a scientist investigate a man who has claimed to invent a machine that can disintegrate and subsequently reintegrate anything put in its view.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
There is a Latvian gentleman named Theodore Nemor living at White Friars Mansions, Hampstead, who claims to have invented a machine of a most extraordinary character which is capable of disintegrating any object placed within its sphere of influence.
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Doc Mellhorn and the Pearly Gates
Stephen Vincent Benét
A ford Model T parked on a rural road.
Published 1938 in The Saturday Evening Post
7,166 words - 29 minutes
Doc Mellhorn finds himself in the great above, but isn’t ready to put down his stethoscope and accept a life of leisure, so he drives away from the pearly gates towards the ‘other place’ in search for patients.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Of course, back on earth a lot of her patients died. But that was because when she didn’t like a patient, she poisoned him. Well, she can’t poison anybody here and I’ve kind of got her out of the notion of it anyway.”
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The Doer of Good
Oscar Wilde
Half of a portrait of an old, tired, bearded man. Graphite Filter
Published 1894 in The Fortnightly Review, Vol. 56 - New Series
466 words - 2 minutes
A man walks and finds people suffering for His Blessings.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
‘But I was blind once, and you gave me sight. At what else should I look?’
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The Dog
Banjo Paterson
A panting dog or fox. Graphite filter.
Published ~1917
1,249 words - 5 minutes
The author describes the character of the dog
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A dog without work is like a man without work, a nuisance to himself and everybody else.
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The Dog and the Shadow
Aesop
A fox-like dog panting outside in the snow. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
86 words - 1 minutes
A simple fable on restraint and karma.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Dog was crossing a plank bridge over a stream with a piece of meat in his mouth, when he happened to see his own reflection in the water. He thought it was another dog with a piece of meat twice as ...
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A Dog’s Tale
Mark Twain
A dog curled up on a chair
Published 1903 in Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 108
4,341 words - 18 minutes
A dog tells of its life in a family household.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian.
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Don’t Look Now
Daphne du Maurier
A venician bridge over the water. Graphite Filter.
Published 1970 in Ladies’ Home Journal
18,550 words - 75 minutes
‘She said Christine was trying to tell her something about us, that we should be in danger if we stayed in Venice. Christine wanted us to go away as soon as possible.’
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
John and Laura spot two strange old women while on their trip in Venice, and one of the old women sees something herself.
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The Doom That Came to Sarnath
H. P. Lovecraft
A non-modern city with a river and bridge. Graphite filter
Published 1920 in The Scot
2,701 words - 11 minutes
A city of men forms near an ancient stone city of ugly non-human beings. Disgusted by their neighbours, the men conquer, kill and destroy the city of the beings without remorse, stealing their holy idol as a symbol of conquest.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
But on the night after it was set up in the temple a terrible thing must have happened, for weird lights were seen over the lake, and in the morning the people found the idol gone, and the high-priest Taran-Ish lying dead, as from some fear unspeakable.
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The Door in the Wall
H. G. Wells
Drawing of a door with plants and a panther peering out from inside.
Published 1906 in The Daily Chronicle, 14 July
6,649 words - 27 minutes
A man recounts the story of a magical world he once explored as a child but has never been able to return to since.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
...and passed a row of frowsy little shops that were inexplicably familiar to me, and behold! there was my long white wall and the green door that led to the enchanted garden!
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Double Cosmos
Clark Ashton Smith
A sillhouetted, hooded figure in a cave holding a light. Graphite filter.
3,789 words - 16 minutes
A chemist experiments with drugs in an attempt to see into the delirium he experienced after a bout of scarlet fever.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
Now I rose to my feet and began to walk around the laboratory, tottering a little at first from that loss of control I have mentioned. The other-dimensional figure also rose and walked, with the same shaky and uncertain steps.
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The Double Shadow
Clark Ashton Smith
A pencil sketch of a cloaked person with two shadows heading of left and right.
Published 1933 in The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies
5,136 words - 21 minutes
A master and apprentice of the occult acquire a tablet with inscriptions that not even the master in all his infamous wisdom can decipher. Emboldened by the mystery, the master endeavours to reveal the ancient secrets within whatever it may unleash.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
I have no knowledge of this thing nor its intention toward me, and no power to stay its progress. Go forth and leave me now; for I would not that any man should witness the defeat of my sorcery and the doom that may follow thereupon.
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The Dream
Mary Shelley
The sillhouette of a man and woman holding hands in a forest. Graphite filter.
Published 1832 in Keepsake
5,488 words - 22 minutes
A woman is in love with the man, and he with her. But their fathers killed each other in battle and she wonders what she ought do.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Forbidden pleasures are said to be the most agreeable.
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A Dream Lies Dead
Dorothy Parker
Clouds. Graphite filter.
114 words - 1 minutes
A poem on dead dreams.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Walk not in woe, But, for a little, let your step be slow.
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The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
Fyodor Dostoevsky
A small, blonde girl opens the jacket of a man to reveal a heart shaped blood stain on his shirt. Finger painting.
Published 1877 in Дневник писателя (A Writer’s Diary)
8,592 words - 35 minutes
A man filled with nihilism decides to end his life, but the thought of a desperate street girl that asked for his help plays on his mind. He falls asleep instead, and dreams of a world without cynicism.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
I could not die now without having first settled something.
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A Dream of Armageddon
H. G. Wells
Drawing of a man and woman on an exotic balcony overlooking the sea.
Published 1901 in Black and White, Vol. 5, No. 85
10,044 words - 41 minutes
While reading a book on dreaming, a man is approached by a stranger who is eager to talk on the subject, chronicling a romantic series of dreams that unfolded over many nights of sleep.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
“But why should it be? If, indeed, this battle, this slaughter and stress is life, why have we this craving for pleasure and beauty? If there is no refuge, if there is no place of peace, and if all our dreams of quiet places are a folly and a snare, why have we such dreams?”
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The Dream Snake
Robert E. Howard
A snake slithering along floorboards. Graphite filter.
Published 1928 in Weird Tales, Vol. 11, No. 2
2,724 words - 11 minutes
An old man tells of his nightmares of a gigantic serpent.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
My obsession of fear, as I stand there in my dream, is that the serpent will raise itself and peer into the window at me. And I know, in my dream, that if this occurs I shall go insane.
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A Dream Within a Dream
Edgar Allan Poe
A beach shore with the sun setting. Graphite Filter.
Published 1849 in Flag of Our Union
141 words - 1 minutes
A poem on life and loss.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
All that we see or seem - Is but a dream within a dream.
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The Dreams in the Witch-House
H. P. Lovecraft
A gothic, wooden, three storeyed house.
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 22, No. 1
14,642 words - 59 minutes
Mathematician Walter Gilman lodges in the infamous ‘Witch House’ that has a long history of being haunted by a mysterious, human-faced rat known by all that dream or see of him as ‘Brown Jenkin’.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
The horror would appear to pop out of the rat-hole in the corner and patter toward him over the sagging, wide-planked floor with evil expectancy in its tiny, bearded human face; but mercifully, this dream always melted away before the object got close enough to nuzzle him.
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The Drover’s Sweetheart
Henry Lawson
Three men with wide-brimmed hats riding horses in the outback.
Published 1892
387 words - 2 minutes
A country woman talks of her adventurous lover.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
He’ll come at night or not at all — He left in dust and heat, And when the soft, cool shadows fall Is the best time to meet.
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The Drover’s Wife
Henry Lawson
A snake slithering on wooden slats. Graphite Filter.
Published 1892
3,201 words - 13 minutes
A bushwoman is living with her four children and dog in the outback when a potentially venomous snake hides itself under the house.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“If yer bit,” says Tommy, after a pause, “you’ll swell up, an smell, an’ turn red an’ green an’ blue all over till yer bust. Won’t he mother?”
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The Drug
C. C. MacApp
Pen drawing of two men, one reaching down into a pen and touching a pig.
Published 1961 in Galaxy Magazine, Vol. 19, No. 3
4,633 words - 19 minutes
Manager Amos Parry sees the results of the company’s new hormonal drug and is disturbed by how it causes one of the laboratory pigs to act ‘unpiglike’.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“Let’s say it’s only one per cent awake and walled off from the conscious mind. What would happen if something removed the wall and woke up the other ninety-nine per cent?”
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The Dunwich Horror
H. P. Lovecraft
A man covering his nose with his hand. graphite filter.
Published 1929 in Weird Tales, Vol. 13, No. 4
17,422 words - 70 minutes
Wilbur Whately ages at an abnormally fast rate, and is considered extremely hideous. Yet something else lives in his house that is much, much worse.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now.
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The Dweller in the Gulf
Clark Ashton Smith
A sillhouetted, hooded figure in a cave holding a light. Graphite filter.
Published 1933 in Wonder Stories, Vol. 4, No. 10
6,142 words - 25 minutes
Three earthmen seek shelter in a cave from a Martian storm. Curious as to where it leads, the trio investigate the insides of the cave and find a spiraling road descending the insides of a seemingly bottomless gulf.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“What’s the use of going further?” said Maspic. “I, for one, have had enough darkness already. And if we were to find anything by going on, it would be valueless—or unpleasant.”
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The Eagle and the Beetle
Aesop
A mouse poking out from behind some wood. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
233 words - 1 minutes
An origin fable on eagles and beetles.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
An Eagle was chasing a hare, which was running for dear life and was at her wits’ end to know where to turn for help. Presently she espied a Beetle, and begged it to aid her. So when the Eagle came up...
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The Eagle and the Cocks
Aesop
A chicken strutting through a field. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
82 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on the consequences of arrogance.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
There were two Cocks in the same farmyard, and they fought to decide who should be master. When the fight was over, the beaten one went and hid himself in a dark corner; while the victor flew up on to...
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The Eagle and the Fox
Aesop
A fox-like dog panting outside in the snow. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
230 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on betrayal and karma.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
An Eagle and a Fox became great friends and determined to live near one another: they thought that the more they saw of each other the better friends they would be. So the Eagle built a nest at the to...
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The Eagle, the Cat, and the Wild Sow
Aesop
A white cat sitting on a stone ledge. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
266 words - 2 minutes
A small fable on cunning and manipulation.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
An Eagle built her nest at the top of a high tree; a Cat with her family occupied a hollow in the trunk halfway down; and a Wild Sow and her young took up their quarters at the foot. They might have g...
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Easter Day
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A kissing man and woman, silhouetted in a forest. Graphite filter. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
4,167 words - 17 minutes
On meeting a childhood friend, Voznitsin recounts his childhood and his love for the four daughters of a family as a young boy.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
On his way from Petersburg to the Crimea Colonel Voznitsin purposely broke his journey at Moscow, where his childhood and youth had been spent, and stayed there two days. It is said that some animals...
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Egyptian Sorcery
Algernon Blackwood
The face of a sleeping young woman, graphite filter.
Published 1921 in The Wolves of God and Other Fey Stories
5,818 words - 24 minutes
A man is down on his luck after his investment in Egyptian Securites declines, but a strange dream of Egypt uncovers more than mere financial mysteries.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
But, even while he hastened, he knew that his personal desire to speak with his friend about Egyptian shares and Delta Lands was not his single object. Behind it, further in among as yet unstirring shadows, lay another deeper purpose.
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Elaine’s Tomb
G. Peyton Wertenbaker
A close up on the face of a sleeping, freckled young woman.
Published 1931 in Amazing Stories Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1
16,272 words - 66 minutes
Two lecturers go on an expedition to examine bodies found in Egypt that have been perfectly preserved for thousands of years. But a curse is inscribed near the tombs, warning of consequences for disturbing the treasures inside.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“I can’t begin to tell you everything about them; but what I seized on at once was the suggestion that those people knew a way to revive life in their dead kings.”
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Eldorado
Edgar Allan Poe
A lance-wielding man on an armoured horse. Graphite filter
Published 1849 in Flag of Our Union
93 words - 1 minutes
A poem of the search for Eldorado.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Singing a song, In search of Eldorado.
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The Elephant
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
An Indian elephant on a cobbled road. Graphite filter.
Published 1907
3,977 words - 16 minutes
A little girl of six is so unenthused by life it worries her parents that she will never be happy again until one day after a dream she begins to want one thing.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Mother⁠ ⁠… could I have⁠ ⁠… an elephant? Only not one that’s painted in a picture.⁠ ⁠… Eh?”
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Emerald
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A large, bridled horse rearing up. Graphite filter.
Published 1907
6,197 words - 25 minutes
A stallion racehorse, experiences anger, nostalgia and desire while the humans around him use and abuse him as if he had no feeling.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
And at once, Emerald saw in imagination the short track to the hippodrome, saw almost every house, every kerbstone, saw the sand of the hippodrome itself, the Tribune, the other horses, the green of the grass and the yellow of the track.
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The Emperor’s New Clothes
Hans Christian Andersen
A king in a bare gown with no pants walks with his entourage in front of a crowd.
Published 1837 in Eventyr, fortalte for Børn (Fairy Tales Told for Children)
1,674 words - 7 minutes
Two swindlers promise a king that they will make him a set of clothes so fine only those worthy are able to see it.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Both the swindlers begged him to be pleased to step nearer, and asked if here was not a pretty pattern, and beautiful colours; and they pointed to the bare looms, and the poor old minister kept staring at it, but he couldn’t see anything, because there was nothing to be seen.
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The Empire of the Ants
H. G. Wells
A drawing of three sailors on a sinking wooden boat.
Published 1905 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 29
5,796 words - 24 minutes
A ship captain is asked to take his boat to assist a town on the Amazon against an army of... ants.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
When Captain Gerilleau received instructions to take his new gunboat, the Benjamin Constant, to Badama on the Batemo arm of the Guaramadema and there assist the inhabitants against a plague of ants, he suspected the authorities of mockery.
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The Empire of the Necromancers
Clark Ashton Smith
A human skull, graphite filter.
Published 1932 in Weird Tales, Vol. 20, No. 3
3,456 words - 14 minutes
After two necromancers raise an undead army with which they plan to become rulers of the land, one of the undead begins to remember his past life.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
And recalling it, he felt a vague stirring of revolt, a ghostly resentment against the magicians who had haled him forth to this calamitous mockery of life.
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The Empty House
Algernon Blackwood
A small candle in the dark. Graphite filter
Published 1906 in The Empty House and Other Short Stories
6,228 words - 25 minutes
Shorthouse’s Aunt insists that they investigate the local haunted house, where a young woman was said to be murdered by her lover.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Facing them, directly in their way between the doorposts, stood the figure of a woman. She had dishevelled hair and wildly staring eyes, and her face was terrified and white as death.
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An Encounter
James Joyce
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
3,243 words - 13 minutes
Two young boys take a day off from school to seek adventure.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
But real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad.
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The End of the Story
Clark Ashton Smith
Cover of 'The End of the Story'. A man in a cowl holds a sparkling wand up to a bare-breasted woman partially covered in a robe. Black and white sketch.
Published 1930 in Weird Tales, Vol. 15, No. 5
7,148 words - 29 minutes
Christophe Morand seeks shelter from a storm, finding it in an abbey full of hospitable monks. He is shown around their library, but warned from reading one book in particular.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“There is a curse on the pages that you hold in your hand: an evil spell, a malign power is attached to them, and he who would venture to peruse them is henceforward in dire peril both of body and soul.”
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Eupompus Gave Splendour to Art by Numbers
Aldous Huxley
An alert man with a moustache. Graphite Filter.
Published 1920 in Limbo
3,303 words - 14 minutes
A man’s eccentric friend announces his discovery resulting from an obsessive investigation into the meaning of an obscure phrase he had read.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“He just suddenly fell in love with numbers—head over ears, amorous of pure counting. Number seemed to him to be the sole reality, the only thing about which the mind of man could be certain.”
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Eveline
James Joyce
A kissing man and woman, silhouetted in a forest. Graphite filter.. Graphite filter.
Published 1904 in Irish Homestead
1,819 words - 8 minutes
The young Eveline contemplates breaking her promise and running away from home.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
What would they say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away with a fellow?
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An Evening Guest
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A brass, ring, door knocker. Graphite filter.
2,064 words - 9 minutes
An anxious man is sent into an existential panic by an unassuming knock on his door.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I do not know what will happen to me tomorrow.⁠ ⁠… Only the shallow, self-satisfied, dull pharisees, or the chosen clairvoyants, with extraordinarily sensitized spirits, know it⁠—or deceive themselves and others into a belief that they know it.
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Everybody Was Very Nice
Stephen Vincent Benét
An envelope with a wax stamp. Graphite filter
Published 1937 in Thirteen o’clock, Stories of Several Worlds
7,835 words - 32 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The queer thing was that at first I didn’t feel married to Lisa at all. I mean, on the boat, and even at the hotel. She said, “But how exciting, darling!” and I suppose it was.
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The Evil Clergyman
H. P. Lovecraft
An old man with long hair and beard. Graphite filter
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 33, No. 4
1,656 words - 7 minutes
A man is shown into a room and told not to touch the box on the table in the middle.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“I hope you won’t stay till after dark. And I beg of you to let that thing on the table—the thing that looks like a match box—alone. We don’t know what it is, but we suspect it has something to do with what he did. We even avoid looking at it very steadily.”
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Ex Oblivione
H. P. Lovecraft
A solitary, draping vine. Graphite filter
Published 1921 in The United Amateur
704 words - 3 minutes
A dying man explores worlds in his dreams.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.
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An Extinct Angel
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A young woman with braided hair. Graphite filter.
Published 1891 in Kate Field's Washington
964 words - 4 minutes
Once upon a time there was an angel in nearly every home, destined to toil away for their human with no complaint and no ambitions save for the desire to serve...
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He was apt to come home tired and cross, and in this exigency it was the business of the angel to wear a smile for his benefit—a soft, perennial, heavenly smile.
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The Eye of Apollo
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
Drawing of a man in a suit, a woman in a simple dress, a man in white robes and a priest sitting on an ornate chair.
Published 1911 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 35
6,180 words - 25 minutes
Father Brown and his companion become acquainted with the companion’s new upstairs neighbours, a new religious group worshipping Apollo and claiming the power to stare at the sun.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
Father Brown found Flambeau and some six other people standing round the enclosed space into which the lift commonly descended. But the lift had not descended. Something else had descended; something that ought to have come by a lift.
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The Eyes Have It
Phillip K. Dick
A human heart. Graphite filter.
Published 1953 in Science Fiction Stories, No. 1
1,084 words - 5 minutes
A man learns of a disturbing alien invasion through reading a book.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
I sickened. The rascal now had her hand, as well as her heart. I shudder to think what he’s done with them, by this time.
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Faces in the Street
Henry Lawson
A 19th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite Filter.
Published 1888
861 words - 4 minutes
The author describes the faces of people in the city street.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
I wonder would the apathy of wealthy men endure - Were all their windows level with the faces of the poor?
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The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
Edgar Allan Poe
A straining hand. Graphite filter.
Published 1845
3,620 words - 15 minutes
The narrator, a mesmerist (early hypnotist), finds a dying man willing to be mesmerised for experiment.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
There was no longer the faintest sign of vitality in M. Valdemar; and concluding him to be dead, we were consigning him to the charge of the nurses, when a strong vibratory motion was observable in the tongue.
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A Fairly Sad Tale
Dorothy Parker
Holding hands. Graphite filter.
187 words - 1 minutes
A poem on finding the wrong men.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
They broke my heart, they stilled my song.
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The Fall of the House of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe
A spired castle looming high. Graphite filter
Published 1839 in The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 5, Iss. 3
7,274 words - 30 minutes
A man comes to the aid of the Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline, who are both ill. Roderick however begins to tell the narrator that he believes the house to be sentient.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.
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The Farmer and His Sons
Aesop
A pitchfork lying next to a clump of hay. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
113 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on cunning.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Farmer, being at death’s door, and desiring to impart to his Sons a secret of much moment, called them round him and said, “My sons, I am shortly about to die; I would have you know, therefore, that...
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The Farmer and the Fox
Aesop
A pitchfork lying next to a clump of hay. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
96 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on cruelty and karma.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Farmer was greatly annoyed by a Fox, which came prowling about his yard at night and carried off his fowls. So he set a trap for him and caught him; and in order to be revenged upon him, he tied a b...
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Father and Sons
Aesop
A pitchfork lying down next to some hay. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
123 words - 1 minutes
A fable on unity.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A certain man had several Sons who were always quarrelling with one another, and, try as he might, he could not get them to live together in harmony. So he determined to convince them of their folly b...
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Father Milon
Guy de Maupassant
A knife stuck into the dirt
Published 1883
2,174 words - 9 minutes
In Prussian occupied France, an old man is questioned about the suspicious deaths of Prussian soldiers.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
For a month the German vanguard had been in this village. The French remained motionless, ten leagues away; and yet, every night, some of the Uhlans disappeared.
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The Fearsome Touch of Death
Robert E. Howard
A tense hand in the darkness. Graphite Filter
Published 1930 in Weird Tales, Vol. 15, No. 2
2,012 words - 9 minutes
A man stands vigil over the body of a deceased recluse, but can’t bear the look of the man’s eyes.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“Not superstitious, are you?”
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The Feast of Nemesis
Saki
A bee, graphite filter.
Published 1913 in Morning Post, Feb 25
1,500 words - 6 minutes
After Mrs. Thackenbury complains of the difficulties of gift giving holidays, her nephew Clovis postures the idea of a holiday of the reversed kind. Where you give to people you loathe, negative gifts.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Just think how jolly it would be if a recognised day were set apart for the paying off of old scores and grudges, a day when one could lay oneself out to be gracefully vindictive to a carefully treasured list of ‘people who must not be let off.’”
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The Female of the Species
Rudyard Kipling
A mother holding a baby. Graphite filter.
Published 1911 in The Morning Post, Oct 20
573 words - 3 minutes
She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast — May not deal in doubt or pity—must not swerve for fact or jest.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A poem on feminine aggression
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Ferdinando Eboli
Mary Shelley
A soldier in fancy garb, with a sabre, on a horse. Graphite filter.
Published 1828 in Keepsake
6,998 words - 28 minutes
After a man leaves for war he is captured and has his clothes stolen. On his escape back to freedom he finds a man that looks exactly the same as him and wearing his stolen clothes.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
You put me out of conceit with myself, to think that one, apparently so like me, should get on no better in the world.
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The Festival
H. P. Lovecraft
Two men wearing hooded robes. Graphite filter
Published 1925 in Weird Tales, Vol. 5, No. 1
3,662 words - 15 minutes
Destined by traditions passed down from his ancestors, a man heads to Kingsport to partake in a festival of his people.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
It was the Yuletide, that men call Christmas though they know in their hearts it is older than Bethlehem and Babylon, older than Memphis and mankind.
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Filmer
H. G. Wells
An assortment of cogs and gears. Graphite Filter
Published 1901
6,570 words - 27 minutes
The nervous genius Filmer has plans to design the first ever machine for heavier-than-air flight. But he has qualms about actually flying the thing.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
He was a Discoverer and he had Discovered. But he was not a Flying Man, and it was only now that he was beginning to perceive clearly that he was expected to fly.
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The Final Problem
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 6
7,154 words - 29 minutes
Holmes reveals that he has discovered that a ‘Professor Moriarty’ is behind nearly all of the major crime in London. He decides to submit the evidence to the police and put an end to the mastermind, knowing full well that the nemesis will seek revenge.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished.
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The Fish and the Ring
Flora Annie Steel
A gold ring. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,531 words - 7 minutes
A powerful Baron with the power to see the future foretells that his son will marry a lowly girl from a poor family. Determined to stop this from happening, he rides off to seek the girl before it is too late.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
But when he got to the river he flung the little thing into the swollen stream, and said to himself as he galloped back to his castle: “There goes Fate!”
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The Five Orange Pips
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1891 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 11
7,327 words - 30 minutes
John Openshaw comes to Holmes for help. His father received a mysterious letter full of five orange pips, later he was found dead. Then his uncle received the same letter...
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“There is nothing more to be said or to be done tonight, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellowmen.”
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The Flower-Women
Clark Ashton Smith
Many crowded flowers, viewed from above. Graphite Filter.
Published 1932 in Weird Tales, Vol. 25, No. 5
4,449 words - 18 minutes
Maal Dweb, an all-powerful sorcerer decides to venture out into a world unprotected and unequipped to rediscover the thrill and excitement of a dangerous and difficult adventure.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Maal Dweb approached the flower-women with a certain caution; for he knew that they were vampires. Their arms ended in long tendrils, pale as ivory, swifter and more supple than the coils of darting serpents, with which they were wont to secure the unwary victims drawn by their singing.
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The Flowering of the Strange Orchid
H. G. Wells
Small blossoming flowers in the ground. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in Pall Mall Budget
2,949 words - 12 minutes
Wedderburn, avid collector of orchids, worries that he hasn’t had any adventure in his life. One day he comes home with exotic orchids he excitedly explains to his cousin were found underneath the foot of a dead adventurer.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Every drop of blood, they say, was taken out of him by the jungle-leeches. It may be that very plant that cost him his life to obtain.
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The Flying Gang
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1891 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 596
269 words - 2 minutes
A man tells of his satisfaction working for the ‘Flying Gang’.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Come out with the pilot engine sharp - And away with the flying gang.
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The Flying Man
H. G. Wells
A person sitting at the edge of a precipice overlooking a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1897
2,653 words - 11 minutes
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
The Ethnologist looked at the bhimraj feather thoughtfully. “They seemed loth to part with it,” he said.“It is sacred to the Chiefs,” said the lieutenant; “just as yellow silk, you know, is sacred t...
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The Flying Stars
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
A woman in a black fur coat feeds small sparrow-sized birds.
Published 1911 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 47
5,320 words - 22 minutes
Diamonds go missing at a small Christmas party with very few suspects.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
It was just as if a crystal fountain had spurted in their eyes. In a nest of orange velvet lay like three eggs, three white and vivid diamonds that seemed to set the very air on fire all round them.
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The Footfalls Within
Robert E. Howard
A Solomon Kane Story
Drawing of a man in a puritan hat stabs at a group of Arabian men with rifles.
Published 1931 in Weird Tales, Vol. 18, No. 2
5,869 words - 24 minutes
Solomon Kane tries to rescue a girl from slave traders when he is himself captured.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“I would trade my soul’s salvation to face you and your sword, alone and unarmed, and to tear the heart from your breast with my naked fingers.”
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Found on a Drowned Man
Guy de Maupassant
A wax-stamped letter. Graphite filter.
Published 1884
2,013 words - 9 minutes
A man tells of how he has never loved a woman.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
In order to love, one must be blind, surrender one's self absolutely, see nothing, question nothing, understand nothing. One must adore the weakness as well as the beauty of the beloved object, renounce all judgment, all reflection, all perspicacity.
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Four Men in a Cave
Stephen Crane
A cave with a beam of light shining down from an opening. Graphite filter.
Published 1892
1,666 words - 7 minutes
Four men explore a cave. After an argument and a fight, they all fall down a slope and find something unexpected deep inside.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
The four men lay in a heap upon the floor of a grey chamber. A small fire smoldered in the corner, the smoke disappearing in a crack. In another corner was a bed of faded hemlock boughs and two blankets. Cooking utensils and clothes lay about, with boxes and a barrel.
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The Fox and the Crow
Aesop
A fox-like dog panting outside in the snow. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
136 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on cunning.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Crow was sitting on a branch of a tree with a piece of cheese in her beak when a Fox observed her and set his wits to work to discover some way of getting the cheese. Coming and standing under the t...
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The Fox and the Grapes
Aesop
A fox-like dog panting outside in the snow. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
80 words - 1 minutes
A small fable about sourness and... bitterness (The origin of the expression ‘sour grapes’).
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A hungry Fox saw some fine bunches of Grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis, and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air.
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The Fox and the Stork
Aesop
A fox-like dog panting outside in the snow. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
111 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on karma.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Fox invited a Stork to dinner, at which the only fare provided was a large flat dish of soup. The Fox lapped it up with great relish, but the Stork with her long bill tried in vain to partake of the...
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Freedom’s a Hard-Bought Thing
Stephen Vincent Benét
Long, iron chains falling onto a tense but open hand, palm up. Graphite filter.
Published 1940 in The Saturday Evening Post
5,796 words - 24 minutes
Cue has only known being a slave and has never questioned it. Then after both his parents die of sickness, he begins to question the way of things.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“The freedom sickness,” said the old woman, and her little eyes glittered like sparks. “Some they break and some they tame down,” she said, “and some is neither to be tamed or broken.”
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A Friend of Napoleon
Richard Connell
Drawing of a man running through the streets holding a wax figure.
Published 1923 in The Saturday Evening Post, June 30
6,977 words - 28 minutes
A lonely wax museum worker must save his friends when the museum closes down.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Stop! Desecraters of Napoleon, stop! There still lives one Frenchman who loves the memories of his native land; there is still one patriot left. I, I, Jerome Chibou, will save Napoleon!”
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The Frog-Prince
Brothers Grimm
A dumb-looking frog. Graphite filter.
Published 1812 in Grimms’ Fairy Tales
1,192 words - 5 minutes
After a princess loses her ball in a spring, she offers a frog all that he wants if he can bring it back to her.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“I told him that he should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the spring; but there he is at the door, and he wants to come in.”
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The Frogs Asking for a King
Aesop
A frog with a blank stare. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
193 words - 1 minutes
A small origin story for frogs.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Time was when the Frogs were discontented because they had no one to rule over them: so they sent a deputation to Jupiter to ask him to give them a King. Jupiter, despising the folly of their request,...
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From Beyond
H. P. Lovecraft
The tense, staring eye of a man's face. Graphite filter
Published 1934 in The Fantasy Fan, Vol. 1, No. 10
3,029 words - 13 minutes
After originally being banished from a scientists house for insisting he halt his experiments, a man is invited back to see the new discovery said to open up man’s untapped senses.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
These things should be left to the frigid and impersonal investigator, for they offer two equally tragic alternatives to the man of feeling and action; despair if he fail in his quest, and terrors unutterable and unimaginable if he succeed.
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The Frost Giant’s Daughter
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
The hilt and bottom half of an iron sword. Graphite filter.
Published 1934 in The Fantasy Fan
3,294 words - 14 minutes
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Across the red drifts and mail-clad forms, two figures glared at each other. In that utter desolation only they moved. The frosty sky was over them, the white illimitable plain around them, the dead men at their feet.
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Gabriel-Ernest
Saki
Eyes in the darkness. Graphite filter.
Published 1909 in The Westminster Gazette, May 29
2,445 words - 10 minutes
Van Cheele finds a mysterious and menacing boy in the forest, who claims to live in the woods by himself.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
’What do you feed on?’ he asked. ’Flesh,’ said the boy, and he pronounced the word with slow relish, as though he were tasting it.
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The Garden Of The Holy Virgin
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A bunch of lilacs flowers. Graphite filter.
980 words - 4 minutes
The Holy Virgin Mary walks among a garden where each flower holds the particle of a man.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
Oppressive silence, as before a thunderstorm, overhangs the world. The air is perfectly motionless. But the flowers tremble and sway in fright as in a tempest, bending to the very ground and extending their heads to the Virgin with boundless entreaty.
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The Gateway of the Monster
William Hope Hodgson
A Thomas Carnacki Story
Two men peer into a room with an ornate bed.
Published 1910 in The Idler, Vol. 36, Iss. 88
8,657 words - 35 minutes
Carnacki is called to a house to sort out the mysterious noises coming from the ‘grey room’, a room where three different people were found strangled to death in generations past.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“It passed swiftly ’round the circle, and seemed to probe ever toward me; but only to draw back with extraordinary jerky movements, as might a living person if they touched the hot bar of a grate.”
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The Geebung Polo Club
Banjo Paterson
A gravestone. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The Antipodean
513 words - 3 minutes
A mountain-side polo club and a posh, city polo club have a match to determine who’s the best.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Now my readers can imagine how the contest ebbed and flowed, — When the Geebung boys got going it was time to clear the road — And the game was so terrific that ere half the time was gone — A spectator’s leg was broken — just from merely looking on.
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The Ghost in Master B’s Room
Charles Dickens
A gothic, wooden, three storeyed house.
Published 1859
4,220 words - 17 minutes
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
I trembled and looked over my shoulder; nothing there. I looked again in the glass, and distinctly saw the features and expression of a boy, who was shaving, not to get rid of a beard, but to get one.
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The Giant Wistaria
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A gothic, wooden, three storeyed house.
Published 1891
3,082 words - 13 minutes
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
O, George, what a house! what a lovely house! I am sure it’s haunted!
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The Gift of the Magi
O. Henry
Rusty coins in the palm of someones hands. Graphite filter.
Published 1905
2,057 words - 9 minutes
Della sells her prized locks to buy a present for her husband.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl.
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The Girls in Their Summer Dresses
Irwin Shaw
A woman with a thatched bag and a light summer dress. Graphite filter.
Published 1939 in The New Yorker
2,900 words - 12 minutes
A woman becomes increasingly frustrated with her partner for staring at girls on the street.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“She’s not so pretty, anyway,” Frances said. “Anyway, not pretty enough to take a chance breaking your neck looking at her.”
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Glamour
Stephen Vincent Benét
Silhouette of man and woman kissing in front of balcony. Graphite filter
Published 1937 in Thirteen o’clock, Stories of Several Worlds
6,753 words - 28 minutes
A man comes into a large inheritance and quits his job to write a novel. But it does not work out as expected.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“ I didn’t want to make the best of things—I wanted it all. You can’t compromise with glamour. Or that’s the way I feel.”
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The “Gloria Scott”
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 28
7,835 words - 32 minutes
Holmes recounts of the case that set him on his path of detective work. He was dining with his friend and friend’s father when he makes a deduction about the father’s past, accidentally shocking his host.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Mr. Trevor stood slowly up, fixed his large blue eyes upon me with a strange wild stare, and then pitched forward, with his face among the nutshells which strewed the cloth, in a dead faint.
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God Sees the Truth, But Waits
Leo Tolstoy
An ugly, broken window. Graphite filter.
2,983 words - 12 minutes
A merchant’s wife has a bad dream that her husband’s journey to the fair won't bode well, but he goes nonetheless.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“Here is this blood-stained knife in your bag and your face and manner betray you! Tell me how you killed him, and how much money you stole?”
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Going Blind
Henry Lawson
A pair of elderly hands clutching a cane. graphite filter.
Published ~1896
2,141 words - 9 minutes
A young man meets a bushman in a hotel. The older man is going blind, and wonders what work he will be able to do in the country once his sight worsens.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Darkness fell quickly upon him now—or, rather, the “sort of white blur” increased and closed in. But his hearing was better, he said, and he was glad of that and still cheerful. I thought it natural that his hearing should improve as he went blind.
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The Golden Ball
Flora Annie Steel
A woman with curly locks in a ball gown by a castle. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,090 words - 5 minutes
A girl is taken away to be hanged for losing a golden ball. So her lover sets out to find it.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Once upon a time there lived two lasses, who were sisters, and as they came from the fair they saw a right handsome young man standing at a house door before them. They had never seen such a handsome...
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The Golden Snuff-box
Flora Annie Steel
A detailed, silver box. Graphite filter
Published 1918
4,138 words - 17 minutes
A boy who grows up only ever knowing his parents and no one else, longs to go out into the world.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Once upon a time, and a very good time too, though it was not in my time, nor your time, nor for the matter of that in any one’s time, there lived a man and a woman who had one son called Jack, and he...
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Gooseberries
Anton Chekhov
A large, robed man looks chuffed as he eats small berries from a plate while sitting in a chair.
Published 1898 in Русская мысль (Russian Thought), No. 8
4,344 words - 18 minutes
A man tells of his younger brother who retired to the country to relive their childhood.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“There ought to be behind the door of every happy, contented man some one standing with a hammer continually reminding him with a tap that there are unhappy people.”
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The Gorgon
Clark Ashton Smith
A woman clutching her face.
Published 1932 in Weird Tales, Vol. 19, No. 3
4,398 words - 18 minutes
A strange, old man appears and offers an enthusiast of the horrible and deadly the chance to gaze upon the head of Medusa herself.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“I can see that you have a taste for horror. The dark and awful secrets of death. the equally dreadful mysteries of life, allure your interest. If you care to come with me, I will show you something which is the quintessence of all horror.”
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Grace
James Joyce
Communion bread and wine on a table. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
7,508 words - 31 minutes
A man has fallen down the stairs at a pub after drinking heavily, and must be helped by his friends.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“To tell you the truth, Tom, we’re going to make a retreat.”
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The Great Calamity
Banjo Paterson
A splash of water in the air. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The Bulletin, Vol. 13, No. 705
355 words - 2 minutes
Two Scots are drinking when one spill some drink.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
MacFierce’un came to Whiskeyhurst When summer days were hot, And bided there wi’ Jock McThirst, A brawny brother Scot.
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The Great Keinplatz Experiment
Arthur Conan Doyle
A stunned looking young man with a moustache. Graphite filter.
Published 1885 in Belgravia, Vol. 57, Iss. 225
6,254 words - 26 minutes
Professor von Baumgarten attempts to prove the spirit’s ability to wander free from its body, but accidentally swaps his own with that of his young student’s.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Had the green man who is depicted upon the signpost of that well-known inn suddenly marched into the room and called for a bottle of wine, the students could not have been more amazed than they were by this unexpected entry of their revered professor.
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The Great Return
Arthur Machen
A sunrise. Graphite filter.
Published 1915
13,933 words - 56 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A shadow of its raptures and ecstasies is found in the highest poetry; there are phrases in ancient books telling of the Celtic saints that dimly hint at it; some of the old Italian masters of painting had known it, for the light of it shines in their skies and about the battlements of their cities that are founded on magic hills.
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The Greek Interpreter
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 6
6,996 words - 28 minutes
A Greek interpreter comes to Holmes after he was forced by a customer to interpret between said man and what appeared to be his bound hostage.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
‘if you speak to a human soul about this—one human soul, mind—well, may God have mercy upon your soul!’
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The Griffin and the Minor Canon
Frank Stockton
Black talons overhanging a wooden edge. Graphite filter.
Published 1885
5,889 words - 24 minutes
A griffin from the dreadful wilds hears that a village has a stone image of himself. Curious to know what he looks like, he decides to visit the village and see it.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
They would offer him the fattest mutton, the most tender beef fish, and game of various sorts, and anything of the kind that he might fancy. If none of these suited, they were to mention that there was an orphan asylum in the next town.
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The Grisly Folk
H. G. Wells
A man sitting on a precipice overlooking a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1921 in The Storyteller
5,313 words - 22 minutes
The author creates a hypothetical, historical story of the first of modern men to meet and clash with the Neanderthals.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
There are the soundest reasons for believing that these earlier so-called men were not of our blood, not our ancestors, but a strange and vanished animal, like us, akin to us, but different from us, as the mammoth was like, and akin to, and yet different from, the elephant.
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A Guest Of Ganymede
C. C. MacApp
The faces of two men and the face of an alien, background of stars in space. A syringe and a pill float around them.
Published 1963 in Worlds of Tomorrow, Vol. 1, No. 2
8,968 words - 36 minutes
Gil Murdoch has ferried his wealthy, blind client to a hidden, alien hospital where they will heal his eyes with their firmly-guarded, cure-all virus. But Gil isn’t satisfied with a simple payment, and has other plans for Ganymede and their famous panacea.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Murdoch watched Waverill’s face but it showed nothing. He was sure the billionaire already had arrangements to shut him up permanently as soon as he was no longer needed, and he didn’t intend, of course, to let those arrangements work out.
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Hamlet
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A human skull. Graphite filter
Published 1905
5,336 words - 22 minutes
The renowned actor Kostromsky has been riding the wave of his fame for many years. But one night, after a young, doe eyed student must stand in for the vacant role of Ophelia, Kostromsky faces the prospect of being upstaged for the first time in his life.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Here you, devils, let me come to the curtain! I must go out and tell the people at once that there will be no performance. There’s no Ophelia. Understand! There’s no Ophelia.”
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The Hammer of God
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
A man with a large hat and coat ponders over a man lying outstreched on a bench outside of a pub.
Published 1910 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 19
6,375 words - 26 minutes
A Reverend warns his brother that his visits to the blacksmith’s wife can only end in disaster.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Plenty of horror, sir,” he said; “but not much mystery.”
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The Hammerpond Park Burglary
H. G. Wells
A gothic, wooden, three storeyed house.
Published 1894 in Pall Mall Budget
2,655 words - 11 minutes
Teddy Watkins hears of the newly married Lady Aveling, her large honeymoon house, and the shiny and sparkling wedding gifts inside. So, posing as a painter he gets himself a good look at the house, and all its open windows.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
It is a moot point whether burglary is to be considered as a sport, a trade, or an art. For a trade, the technique is scarcely rigid enough, and its claims to be considered an art, are vitiated by the mercenary element that qualifies its triumphs.
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The Hand
Guy de Maupassant
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Published 1883 in Le Gaulois, Ser. 3, No. 524
2,061 words - 9 minutes
A stranger comes to town, bringing with him a souvenir hand. He says he cut it off from an enemy and that it still seeks revenge.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“I said: “ ‘Are all these animals dangerous?’ “He smiled: “ ‘Oh, no! Man is the worst.’
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The Hanging Stranger
Phillip K. Dick
A panicked man runs from a man hanging from a lamppost as monstrous bugs fly after him.
Published 1953 in Science Fiction Adventures, Vol. 3, No. 1
5,164 words - 21 minutes
Ed Joyce sees a disturbing sight on the street, but no one else seems to care.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
The lamppost jutted up against the sky—the post and the bundle swinging from it. “There it is. How the hell long has it been there?” His voice rose excitedly. “What’s wrong with everybody? They just walk on past!”
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Hansel and Gretel
Brothers Grimm
A sparrow eating a crumb of bread. Graphite filter.
Published 1812 in Grimms’ Fairy Tales
2,929 words - 12 minutes
Two young children are thrown out of home. Hungry, they soon come across a strange house made of bread and cake.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
And when they approached the little house they saw that it was built of bread and covered with cakes, but that the windows were of clear sugar.
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Happiness
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A dusty, barred prison window. Graphite filter.
Published 1905
725 words - 3 minutes
A tzar orders his citizens in turn what happiness is.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A great tzar ordered the poets and sages of his country to be brought before him. And he asked them this question: “In what does happiness consist?”
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The Happy Prince
Oscar Wilde
A standing swallow. Graphite filter.
Published 1888
3,471 words - 14 minutes
A statue of a prince seeks help from a little swallow to prevent the misery that he can see but not affect.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
There is no Mystery so great as Misery. Fly over my city, little Swallow, and tell me what you see there.
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The Hare and the Tortoise
Aesop
A mouse poking out from behind some wood. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
142 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on being slow and steady.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Hare was one day making fun of a Tortoise for being so slow upon his feet. “Wait a bit,” said the Tortoise; “I’ll run a race with you, and I’ll wager that I win.” “Oh, well,” replied the Hare, who w...
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A Haunted House
Virginia Woolf
A cat's eyes in the darkness. Graphite filter.
Published 1921
680 words - 3 minutes
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Whatever hour you woke there was a door shutting.
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A Haunted Island
Algernon Blackwood
Looking out onto a jungle island from a small boat. Graphite filter.
Published 1899 in The Pall Mall Magazine
6,623 words - 27 minutes
A man stays at a cottage on an island to catch up on his studies, but one night he notices a canoe circling around.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
I was not surprised to fancy I heard a shout or a cry as I passed from rock to rock, and more than once to imagine that I heard my own name called aloud.
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The Haunted Mind
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A large, ornate bed beneath two glass windows. Graphite filter.
Published 1835 in The Token and Atlantic Souvenir
1,777 words - 8 minutes
The narrator describes our common experience of waking, interrupted from a dream.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
You find yourself for a single instant wide awake in that realm of illusions whither sleep has been the passport, and behold its ghostly inhabitants and wondrous scenery with a perception of their strangeness such as you never attain while the dream is undisturbed.
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The Haunter of the Dark
H. P. Lovecraft
A small candle in the dark. Graphite filter
Published 1936 in Weird Tales, Vol. 28, No. 5
9,238 words - 37 minutes
Artist Robert Blake can see a church from the window of his new house in Providence. Eventually he can bear his curiosity no longer and breaks into the abandoned and locally shunned building, discovering things that were best left alone.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
During the dark hour praying crowds had clustered round the church in the rain with lighted candles and lamps somehow shielded with folded paper and umbrellas—a guard of light to save the city from the nightmare that stalks in darkness.
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The Heavenly Christmas Tree
Fyodor Dostoevsky
A spruce tree in the snow. graphite filter.
Published 1876 in Дневник писателя (A Writer’s Diary)
1,825 words - 8 minutes
A poor boy wanders the street on Christmas Eve.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Come to my Christmas tree, little one.”
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The Hen
Saki
A saber sword.
Published 1948 in Morning Post, Dec 10
1,831 words - 8 minutes
Clovis has to convince the house guest Jane Martlet to leave on time before her bitter enemy Dora Bittholz arrives next Thursday.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
“I’m told that the letters which passed between the two women were a revelation as to how much invective could be got on to a sheet of notepaper.”
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Henny Penny
Flora Annie Steel
A chicken strutting through a field. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
702 words - 3 minutes
After Henny-penny is hit on the head by an acorn, she goes around telling everyone the sky is falling down.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“the sky’s a-going to fall; I must go and tell the King.”
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Her Letters
Kate Chopin
A sealed envelope. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in Vogue, Vol. 5, Iss. 15
3,138 words - 13 minutes
A woman tries to force herself to burn her own mysterious letters.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
She was thinking; thinking of a way to keep them without possible ultimate injury to that other one whom they would stab more cruelly than keen knife blades.
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Hermann the Irascible
Saki
An ink pen in the middle of writing. Graphite filter.
Published 1909 in The Westminster Gazette, Dec 24
976 words - 4 minutes
The King of Britain hatches a plan to deal with the suffragettes.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Every woman between the ages of twenty-one and seventy will be obliged to vote, not only at elections for Parliament, county councils, district boards, parish-councils, and municipalities, but for coroners, school inspectors, churchwardens...”
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Hills Like White Elephants
Ernest Hemmingway
Rolling hills. Graphite filter.
Published 1927
1,459 words - 6 minutes
A man and woman discuss an unnamed ‘operation’.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“And you think then we’ll be all right and be happy.” - “I know we will. You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it.”
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The Hills of the Dead
Robert E. Howard
A Solomon Kane Story
Drawing of a lion chasing a woman through grass while carrion birds watch on.
Published 1930 in Weird Tales, Vol. 16, No. 2
7,356 words - 30 minutes
Solomon Kane is gifted a powerful staff by a witch doctor and ventures into the jungle.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“Where your guns and long knife fail, this save you.”
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His Father’s Mate
Henry Lawson
A well from bird's eye view. Graphite filter
Published 1888 in The Bulletin, 22 December
3,749 words - 15 minutes
A man dies in a mine shaft collapse.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Without a moment’s warning the treacherous bole slipped round; a small body bounded a couple of times against the sides of the shaft and fell at Mason’s feet, where it lay motionless!
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His Last Bow
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1917 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 321
6,666 words - 27 minutes
A German spy plans to take secret information back to Germany, but has one last rendezvous.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Tut, my dear sir, we live in a utilitarian age. Honour is a mediaeval conception
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His Wife’s Deceased Sister
Frank Stockton
A fountain pen writing on lined paper. Graphite Filter
Published 1884 in The Lady or the Tiger? and Other Stories
4,384 words - 18 minutes
After publishing a smash hit titled “His Wife’s Deceased Sister”, a humble author struggles to find any more work.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Suppose Raphael’s patrons had tried to keep him screwed up to the pitch of the Sistine Madonna, and had refused to buy anything which was not as good as that”
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The History of the Necronomicon
H. P. Lovecraft
A splayed open book. Graphite filter
Published 1938
697 words - 3 minutes
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Original title Al Azif—azif being the word used by Arabs to designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) suppos’d to be the howling of daemons. Composed by Abdul Alhazred, a mad poet of Sa...
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An Honest Thief
Fyodor Dostoevsky
The tired face of an old, bearded man. graphite filter.
Published 1848 in Отечественныя записки (Notes of the Fatherland)
6,809 words - 28 minutes
A man is convinced by his housekeeper to allow an old man to lodge in one of his small rooms. The old man eventually tells of how he himself once allowed a poorer man to live in his house.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Why, what am I to do, Astafy Ivanovitch? I know very well I am a drunkard and good for nothing!”
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Honor Among Sportsmen
Richard Connell
An enormous pig snuffling along the ground. Graphite Filter.
Published 1922
5,481 words - 22 minutes
Monsieur Bonticu and his pig Anastasia, and Monsieur Pantan and his pig Clotilde, two of the most fine truffle hunters pairs of Montpont fall into disagreement at the Sunday truffle hunting championship, leading to the ‘ultimate insult’.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Anastasie was his pig, a prodigy at detecting truffles, and his most priceless treasure. He once said, at a truffle-hunters’ dinner, “I have but two passions, my comrades. The pursuit of the truffle and the flight from the female.”
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The Honour of Israel Gow
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
Three men discuss at a table in the dark with only a small candle illuminating their faces.
Published 1910 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 39
5,619 words - 23 minutes
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
As green sap to the simmer trees Is red gold to the Ogilvies.
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The Horla
Guy de Maupassant
The intense eye of a staring man. graphite filter.
Published 1887 in Gil Blas
9,582 words - 39 minutes
A man writes in his diary of an affliction that keeps him in a permanent panic. He begins to worry it is an unseen, living entity trying to control him.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Oh, the vulture has been used to eat the dove, the wolf to eat the sheep; the lion to devour the sharp-horned buffalo; man to kill the lion with arrow, spear and gun; but the Horla is going to make of man what we have made of the horse and the cow: his thing, his servant and his food, by the mere force of his will. Woe to us!
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The Horrible
Guy de Maupassant
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
Published 1884 in Le Gaulois, Ser. 3, No. 671
2,091 words - 9 minutes
In response to his men talking of a terrible accident, a general tells two stories to exemplify what real horror is.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
In order that we should experience horror, something more is needed than emotion, something more than the spectacle of a dreadful death; there must be a shuddering sense of mystery, or a sensation of abnormal terror, more than natural.
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The Horror in the Museum
H. P. Lovecraft
Black talons overhanging a wooden edge. Graphite filter.
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 22, No. 1
11,166 words - 45 minutes
A museum owner, George Rogers, insists that his museum exhibits are more than just wax. (Ghost-written for Hazel Heald)
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Even if you did think I made that oblong swimmer in darkness out of wax. If you’d seen it writhing in the underground pools as I did. . . .”
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The Horror of the Heights
Arthur Conan Doyle
A colourful drawing of a early aeroplane flying over purple, tentacled creatures.
Published 1913 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 46, No. 275
6,530 words - 27 minutes
Pilot Joyce-Armstrong theorises that there are unexplored ‘jungles’ in the upper atmosphere where new mysteries lie. And with modern aeroplanes with powerful engines, they are now within reach.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
I have seen the beauty and I have seen the horror of the heights—and greater beauty or greater horror than that is not within the ken of man.
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The Horse of the Invisible
William Hope Hodgson
A Thomas Carnacki Story
Drawing of one man holding a lamp and another holding a fainted woman.
Published 1910 in The Idler, Vol. 37, Iss. 91
10,302 words - 42 minutes
Carnacki must solve a seemingly generational curse afflicting the first-born females of the Hisgin family.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“The fifth girl was killed one evening in the park ’round the house; but just how, there seemed to be no exact knowledge; only that there was an impression that she had been kicked by a horse.”
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A Horseman in the Sky
Ambrose Bierce
A person sitting at the edge of a precipice overlooking a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1889 in San Fransisco Examiner, Apr 14
2,471 words - 10 minutes
A Union sentinel of the American civil war falls asleep on duty, and wakes up to see a confederate scout spot the troops he was meant to be protecting.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
Well, go, sir, and whatever may occur do what you conceive to be your duty. Virginia, to which you are a traitor, must get on without you.
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The Hound
H. P. Lovecraft
A round gravestone. Graphite filter
Published 1924 in Weird Tales, Vol. 3, No. 2
2,976 words - 12 minutes
Two graverobbers find and steal an amulet in a grave in a Holland churchyard. But from then on they sense something bestial stalking them and getting closer every day.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
It was this frightful emotional need which led us eventually to that detestable course which even in my present fear I mention with shame and timidity—that hideous extremity of human outrage, the abhorred practice of grave-robbing.
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The House Among the Laurels
William Hope Hodgson
A Thomas Carnacki Story
Drawing of a spired, gothic house behind a decorated, wrought iron gate.
Published 1910 in The Idler, Vol. 36, Iss. 89
7,814 words - 32 minutes
Carnacki brings a team to investigate a house with what appears to be blood dripping from the ceiling.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“By his tone, I could tell that he was feeling something of the strangeness of it all; and the other men, including Wentworth, were so quiet that I was afraid they were beginning to get shaky.”
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A House in the Country
Richard Connell
An oven. Graphite Filter.
Published 1924
4,022 words - 17 minutes
Appleby, an old acquaintance from college is found searching for furnishings for his house, which he does not own. Appleby insists that he is simply preparing for retirement very... very early.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“‘Life,’ I said to myself, ‘is as empty as a used cantaloupe.’”
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How Gilbert Died
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 746
660 words - 3 minutes
Two outlaws hole up in a hut from the police.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
But the smallest child on the Watershed - Can tell you how Gilbert died.
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How I Became an Actor
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A pair of hands carefully holding a dozen coins. Graphite filter.
Published 1920 in Sasha
10,927 words - 44 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
On my way I thought to myself: Why didn’t he ask for my stage name? Probably he forgot. Perhaps he guessed that I had none. And in case of an emergency I then and there invented a name⁠.
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How Jack Went Out To Seek His Fortune
Flora Annie Steel
A person sitting at the edge of a precipice. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
897 words - 4 minutes
The young Jack goes out to seek his fortune, making strange friends along the way.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Jack gave the word, and the cat mewed, and the dog barked, and the goat bleated, and the bull bellowed, and the rooster crowed, and all together they made such a terrific hubbub that the robbers jumped up in a fright and ran away, leaving their gold on the table.
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How M’Ginnis Went Missing
Banjo Paterson
A rocky creek flowing away from view. Graphite filter.
Published 1889 in The Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 501
172 words - 1 minutes
A man drowns after sleeping by a river.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Let us cease our idle chatter, Let the tears bedew our cheek, For a man from Tallangatta Has been missing for a week.
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How The Camel Got His Hump
Rudyard Kipling
A proud looking camel. Graphite filter.
Published 1912 in Just So Stories
851 words - 4 minutes
A fable on the origin of a camel’s hump.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
But no sooner had he said it than he saw his back, that he was so proud of, puffing up and puffing up into a great big lolloping humph.
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How the Favourite Beat Us
Banjo Paterson
A bridled horse racing down a track. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in Rosehill Race Book
472 words - 2 minutes
A man tells of how he lost all of his money on his own horse.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
‘Aye,’ said the boozer, ‘I tell you it’s true, sir, ‘I once was a punter with plenty of pelf, ‘But gone is my glory, I’ll tell you the story ‘How I stiffened my horse and got stiffened myself.
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How The Rhinocerous Got His Skin
Rudyard Kipling
A rhino. Graphite filter.
Published 1912 in Just So Stories
819 words - 4 minutes
A fable on the origin of a rhino’s wrinkly skin.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
In those days the Rhinoceros’s skin fitted him quite tight. There were no wrinkles in it anywhere. He looked exactly like a Noah’s Ark Rhinoceros, but of course much bigger.
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How The Whale Got His Throat
Rudyard Kipling
A whale launching out of the sea Graphite filter.
Published 1912 in Just So Stories
961 words - 4 minutes
A fable on the origin of a whale’s throat.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner.
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A Hunger Artist
Franz Kafka
Many strands of bunched straw. graphite filter
Published 1922
4,056 words - 17 minutes
A man commits himself further and further upon his art of fasting for weeks at a time.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
No one had any reason to be dissatisfied with what he had seen - no one, that is, except for the starvation artist, he alone, always.
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Hunted Down
Charles Dickens
A man in a tux and with a cane, tipping his hat
Published 1859
8,588 words - 35 minutes
Mr Sampson, life assurance manager, distrusts a man that walks into his office by the way he looks.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.
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The Hunters from Beyond
Clark Ashton Smith
Black talons overhanging a wooden edge. Graphite filter.
Published 1932 in Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, Vol. 2, No. 3
6,347 words - 26 minutes
Author of horror, Phillip Hastane checks out a bookstore wherein he finds a grotesque imp watching from a corner. He runs to his cousin’s studio only to discover that his cousin has also seen the very same kind of beast.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
‘If you could know. what I know, could see what I have seen, you might make something really worth-while out of your weird fiction, Philip.’
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Hunting the Deceitful Turkey
Mark Twain
The smoking barrel of a shotgun. Graphite filter
Published 1906
1,240 words - 5 minutes
A turkey fakes an injury to lure a boy away from its nest.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
She always waited for me, a little piece away, and let on to be resting and greatly fatigued; which was a lie, but I believed it, for I still thought her honest long after I ought to have begun to doubt her, suspecting that this was no way for a high-minded bird to be acting.
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The Hyborian Age
Robert E. Howard
The hilt and bottom half of an iron sword. Graphite filter.
Published 1936
8,729 words - 35 minutes
The fantasy history of the world of Conan the Barbarian.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
The following age was an epoch of wandering and conquest. Across the history of the world tribes and drifts of tribes move and shift in an everchanging panorama.
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Hypnos
H. P. Lovecraft
The tense, staring eye of a man's face. Graphite filter
Published 1922 in National Amateur
2,791 words - 12 minutes
Through occult study and drugs, two friends delve deeper and deeper into dreams and beyond, until the more experienced of the two passes a metaphysical barrier into unfathomable horror.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Of our studies it is impossible to speak, since they held so slight a connexion with anything of the world as living men conceive it.
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Ibid
H. P. Lovecraft
A human skull. Graphite filter
Published 1938 in O-Wash-Ta-Nong
1,750 words - 7 minutes
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
(“. . . as Ibid says in his famous Lives of the Poets.” —From a student theme.) The erroneous idea that Ibid is the author of the Lives is so frequently met with, even among those pretending t...
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The Idiot
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
Rusty coins in the palms of someones hands. Graphite filter. Graphite filter.
Published 1917
3,132 words - 13 minutes
A man tells a story of an ‘idiot’ who helped him in his time of need.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
For two days I was half starved. On the third day there only remained to me three copecks.
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An Idyll of Dandaloo
Banjo Paterson
A bridled horse racing down a track. Graphite filter.
Published 1889 in The Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 514
580 words - 3 minutes
A Sydney man with his fancy horse comes to race in the small town of Dandaloo and the locals are not happy.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
On Western plains, where shade is not, ’Neath summer skies of cloudless blue, Where all is dry and all is hot, There stands the town of Dandaloo —
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If
Rudyard Kipling
A lone man riding away on a horse. Graphite filter.
Published 1910 in Rewards and Fairies
283 words - 2 minutes
A poem on balance and wisdom.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim.
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If I Were a Man
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A man with a suit tipping his hat. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Physical Culture, Vol. 32, No. 1
2,329 words - 10 minutes
Mollie Mathewson suddenly finds herself seeing the world through her husband’s eyes, and discovers the perspective of men.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
‘Women are pretty much people, seems to me.’
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The Illustrious Client
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1924 in Collier’s
9,731 words - 39 minutes
A general’s young daughter has fallen for a baron whose previous wife died under suspicious circumstances. But the young Violet won’t listen to what anyone says about the baron.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Some people’s affability is more deadly than the violence of coarser souls.”
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An Imperial Message
Franz Kafka
A letter and fancy, stamped envelope. Graphite Filter.
Published 1919
388 words - 2 minutes
A man comes from the emperor with a message.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
If there were an open field, how he would fly along, and soon you would hear the marvellous pounding of his fist on your door.
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The Impersonators
C. C. MacApp
An outstretched hand gesticulating for someone to stop. Graphite Filter
Published 1899 in Worlds of IF, Vol. 17, Iss. 1
5,019 words - 21 minutes
Inspector Kruger has a difficult time arresting an intergalactic criminal after the wanted man hired 50 shapeshifting slugs to walk around impersonating him.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Damn it,” he said shakily, “you’re the sixth one today!”
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Imprisoned With the Pharaohs
H. P. Lovecraft
Two of the pyramids of Giza. Graphite filter.
Published 1924 in Weird Tales, Vol. 4, No. 2
10,883 words - 44 minutes
A famous magician travels to Egypt, where he soon finds himself kidnapped and trapped underground. (Ghost-written for Harry Houdini)
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
My hands were tied behind my back, my knees bent to their fullest extent, and my wrists and ankles stoutly linked together with unyielding cords. A stifling gag was forced into my mouth, and a blindfold fastened tightly over my eyes.
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In Another Country
Ernest Hemmingway
Factory machinery. Graphite filter.
Published 1927 in Men Without Women
2,144 words - 9 minutes
An American soldier in Italy after World War I experiences derision and exclusion from the locals.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
We only knew then that there was always the war, but that we were not going to it any more.
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In Answer to Various Bards
Banjo Paterson
A bright sunrise over the sea. Graphite filter.
Published 1892 in The Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 659
759 words - 4 minutes
A criticism of the dreary poets who write of corpses and tombs.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
For it stirs him like a message from his station friends afar — And he seems to sniff the ranges in the scent of wool and tar.
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In Defence of the Bush
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1892 in The Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 649
492 words - 2 minutes
A countryman defends the beauty of the country.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Where the sunbaked earth was gasping like a creature in its pain You would find the grasses waving like a field of summer grain, And the miles of thirsty gutters blocked with sand and choked with mud, You would find them mighty rivers with a turbid, sweeping flood;
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In Exile
Anton Chekhov
A stunned looking, moustached man. Graphite filter.
Published 1892 in Всемирная иллюстрация (World Illustrated)
3,959 words - 16 minutes
A veteran tries to convince the new exile how to appreciate the harsh life of Siberia.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He is at you about the women, but you spite him; say, ‘I don’t want them!’ He is on at you about freedom, but you stand up to him and say: ‘I don’t want it!’
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In the Abyss
H. G. Wells
Urchins on the ocean floor. Graphite filter.
Published 1896 in Pearson’s Magazine
6,072 words - 25 minutes
After Elstead returns later than expected from a voyage into the deep sea. He announces the discovery of much more than fish and sea-urchins.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“You laughed at my explorations, and I’ve discovered a new world!”
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In the Avu Observatory
H. G. Wells
eyes in the darkness. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in Pall Mall Budget
2,714 words - 11 minutes
Woodhouse is beginning his shift at an observatory when, looking through the telescope, something appears to momentarily cover the lens.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Suddenly the stars were blotted out. A flash of blackness passed, and they were visible again.
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In the Droving Days
Banjo Paterson
Three men with wide-brimmed hats riding horses in the outback.
Published 1891 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 592
748 words - 3 minutes
An ex-drover sees an old droving horse being sold at an auction for a pitiful amount.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Straightway the crowd and the auctioneer Seemed on a sudden to disappear, Melted away in a kind of haze, For my heart went back to the droving days.
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In the Forest of Villefère
Robert E. Howard
A twisting tree. Graphite filter.
Published 1925
1,356 words - 6 minutes
A man travelling through a forest meets a masked man who offers to show him the way through.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“A mask!” I exclaimed. “Why do you wear a mask, m’sieu?” “It is a vow,” he explained. “In fleeing a pack of hounds I vowed that if I escaped I would wear a mask for a certain time.” “Hounds, m’sieu?” “Wolves,” he answered quickly; “I said wolves.”
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In the Penal Colony
Franz Kafka
An assembly of cogs. Graphite Filter.
Published 1919
11,770 words - 48 minutes
In a penal colony, a visitor is shown around a torture machine by an officer who is passionate about the local methods of justice.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Guilt is always beyond a doubt. Other courts could not follow this principle, for they are made up of many heads and, in addition, have even higher courts above them.
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In the Vault
H. P. Lovecraft
Drawing of a man with his upper body hanging over a door and reaching out.
Published 1925 in The Tryout
3,401 words - 14 minutes
An undertaker grows lax in his care for the burial process. Then one day he accidentally locks himself in a vault with several yet-to-be buried coffins and learns to regret having ever disrespected the dead.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
The undertaker grew doubly lethargic in the bitter weather, and seemed to outdo even himself in carelessness. Never did he knock together flimsier and ungainlier caskets, or disregard more flagrantly the needs of the rusty lock on the tomb door which he slammed open and shut with such nonchalant abandon.
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An Incident
Anton Chekhov
A house cat sitting outside. Graphite filter
Published 1886
1,924 words - 8 minutes
The young children, Vanya and Nina are delighted to wake and find out that the cat has had kittens.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Vanya and Nina are a long time deciding who is to be the kittens’ father, and, in the end, their choice falls on a big dark-red horse without a tail, which is lying in the store-cupboard under the stairs, together with other relics of toys that have outlived their day.
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The Inexperienced Ghost
H. G. Wells
Four wine glasses being clinked together. Graphite filter.
Published 1902 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 23
4,870 words - 20 minutes
Three men of the local club listen to a fourth tell a story of a particularly unthreatening and unhaunting ghost that he claims to have met the night before.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Right off I knew him for a ghost. He was transparent and whitish; clean through his chest I could see the glimmer of the little window at the end. And not only his physique but his attitude struck me as being weak.
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The Inmost Light
Arthur Machen
A bustling city with trams. Graphite Filter.
Published 1895 in The Great God Pan: And The Inmost Light
12,072 words - 49 minutes
A man introduces to his old friend a mystery of a missing woman with a potentially supernatural explanation.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
‘But it is different in London. You may point out a street, correctly enough, as the abode of washerwomen; but, in that second floor, a man may be studying Chaldee roots, and in the garret over the way a forgotten artist is dying by inches.’
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An Inquiry
Anton Chekhov
An ink pen in the middle of writing. Graphite filter.
Published 1883
886 words - 4 minutes
A country man attempts to make an inquiry at a government office.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“You give him three roubles,” whispered the porter. — “I’ve given him two already.” — “Give him another.”
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The Interlopers
Saki
A fallen tree in a forest. Graphite filter.
Published 1912 in The Bystander
2,141 words - 9 minutes
Two men intent on killing each other meet in the woods, rifles in hand.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“When they drag me out from under these damned branches it won’t need much clumsiness on their part to roll this mass of trunk right over on the top of you.”
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Into Egypt
Stephen Vincent Benét
A speck of a man amongst a vast desert. Graphite filter.
Published 1939 in Ladies’ Home Journal, Vol. 56, Iss. 5
4,381 words - 18 minutes
A lieutenant is tasked with the exiling of the ‘Accursed People’ from his nation. Thoughts of sympathy arise in his mind, but are squashed by his military training.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
As for Willi and himself, they had been friends—yes, even through the first year or so at school. Both of them had meant to run away and be cowboys, and they had had a secret password. Naturally, things had changed, later on.
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Invictus
William Ernest Henley
A masted ship. Graphite Filter.
Published 1888 in A Book of Verses
103 words - 1 minutes
A poem on pride and resilience.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
I thank whatever gods may be - For my unconquerable soul.
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The Invisible City
Clark Ashton Smith
A man holds aloft a shining, egg-shaped object, dozens of beings with human bodies and elephant-like heads reel back in awe.
Published 1932 in Wonder Stories, Vol. 4, No. 1
8,114 words - 33 minutes
Explorers Langley and Furham struggle through the desert searching for the ruins of the city of Kobar, only to come across a city much more fantastical and much, much more uncharted.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
The depression was bare and empty with no sign of ruins, but was lined with numerous pits that suggested the ground-plan of a vanished city.
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The Invisible Girl
Mary Shelley
A young woman with braided hair. Graphite filter.
Published 1832 in Keepsake
5,659 words - 23 minutes
After a rich man discovers that his son and his adopted orphan girl are in love, he casts the girl out.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
It is burnt by the ghost of a maiden who lost her sweetheart in these parts; he being wrecked, and his body found at the foot of the tower: she goes by the name among us of the ‘Invisible Girl.’
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The Invisible Man
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
Two men investigate a piece of armour.
Published 1911 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, iss. 31
6,471 words - 26 minutes
A young woman tells a young man who proposes to her of why she cannot marry anyone.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Not only is your murderer invisible, but he makes invisible also the murdered man.”
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Ionitch
Anton Chekhov
A small hillside town. Graphite Filter.
Published 1898 in Нива (Niva)
7,108 words - 29 minutes
A doctor arrives for work at a small Russian town and decides to visit the most respected local family. Their small town culture bores him, but he takes a liking to the youthful and energetic daughter, Ekaterina.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Before I’d drunk the tears from life’s goblet. . . .
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Iron Hans
Brothers Grimm
Tall windy trees above a swamp. Graphite filter.
Published 1812 in Grimms’ Fairy Tales
3,208 words - 13 minutes
A boy is taken away into the forest by a wild man he frees from a cage. After failing a task set by the wild man he must venture out into a city to find his destiny.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
And as he still bent down more and more while he was doing so, and trying to look straight into the eyes, his long hair fell down from his shoulders into the water. He raised himself up quickly, but the whole of the hair of his head was already golden and shone like the sun.
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The Island of the Fay
Edgar Allan Poe
Rolling, grassy hills. Graphite filter.
Published 1841 in Graham’s Magazine
1,936 words - 8 minutes
A man talks about music and science.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
In truth, the man who would behold aright the glory of God upon earth must in solitude behold that glory.
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The Isle of the Torturers
Clark Ashton Smith
A wooden, five-masted sailing ship on the sea. Graphite filter
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 21, No. 3
6,166 words - 25 minutes
A plague wipes out the kingdom of Yoros, leaving alive only the king who wears a magical ring that protects him. The king sets off on a voyage to find a new land in which to live.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
For if once the plague had breathed upon Fulbra, he would bear its subtle contagion always in his flesh; and the contagion would assume its wonted virulence with the ring’s removal.
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Italian with Grammar
Mark Twain
A splayed open book. Graphite filter.
Published 1835
2,523 words - 11 minutes
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
I found that a person of large intelligence could read this beautiful language with considerable facility without a dictionary, but I presently found that to such a parson a grammar could be of use at...
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Italian without a Master
Mark Twain
A splayed open book. Graphite filter.
Published 1904
2,315 words - 10 minutes
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
It is almost a fortnight now that I am domiciled in a medieval villa in the country, a mile or two from Florence. I cannot speak the language; I am too old not to learn how, also too busy when I am bu...
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Ivy Day in the Committee Room
James Joyce
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
5,293 words - 22 minutes
Political campaigners discuss Irish nationalism.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“The working-man is not going to drag the honour of Dublin in the mud to please a German monarch.”
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Jack and the Beanstalk
Flora Annie Steel
A solitary, draping vine. Graphite filter
Published 1918
3,685 words - 15 minutes
A poor farm boy sells his family’s last possession to a mysterious man in exchange for five beans promised to grow into the very sky.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A long long time ago, when most of the world was young and folk did what they liked because all things were good, there lived a boy called Jack.
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Jack the Giant-killer
Flora Annie Steel
A bearded man sitting on a throne. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
5,310 words - 22 minutes
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
When good King Arthur reigned with Guinevere his Queen, there lived, near the Land’s End in Cornwall, a farmer who had one only son called Jack. Now Jack was brisk and ready; of such a lively wit th...
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Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet
O. Henry
A man with a suit and cane, tipping his hat. Graphite filter.
Published 1908 in The Gentle Grafter
2,327 words - 10 minutes
A con-artist starts selling ointments in a town, but has a run in with a constable who says he needs a licence to practice medicine. Determined to run his con the right way, he heads to the mayor’s office to sort it all out.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
‘No checks, please, I hate to write my name on the back of a check almost as bad as I do on the front.’
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Jerry Bundler
W. W. Jacobs
The blurry shadow of a human. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in The Windsor Magazine, Vol. 7
2,856 words - 12 minutes
A group of men talk of ghosts, including a ‘Jerry Bundler’ said to haunt the very house in which they are staying. Two men boast they could dress up as the ghost and give the other a good scare.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“A ghost story is a ghost story, sir; but when a gentleman tells a tale of a ghost in the house in which one is going to sleep, I call it most ungentlemanly!”
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The Jewess
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A hansom cab. Graphite Filter.
Published 1889
7,071 words - 29 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“We’ve passed it, pa‑assed it,” a child’s feeble voice rang pitifully. “Right!” shouted an angry bass behind. “To the right, right, r‑r‑right,” gaily and swiftly sounded a chorus in front. Someone gro...
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The Jilting of Jane
H. G. Wells
A silhouetted man and woman holding eachother in a forest. Graphite filter.
Published 1894
2,589 words - 11 minutes
Jane, the servant, falls for a man who is ‘a lot above her’ in station.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“William is being led away,” she remarked abruptly, with a catching of the breath, apropos of tablecloths. “Yes, ma’am. She is a milliner, and she can play on the piano.”
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Jim Carew
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in The Man From Snowy River and Other Verses
360 words - 2 minutes
Jim Carew, born a man of the town, comes into trouble and is sent away to the outback.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Came to grief — was it card or horse? - Nobody asked and nobody cared;
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Johnny Pye and the Fool-Killer
Stephen Vincent Benét
Pen drawing of a boy fishing in a swirling pool next to a wooden house on stilts.
Published 1938 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 210, No. 12
8,259 words - 34 minutes
A young boy’s harsh parents tell him that he’s a fool and the fool-killer will get him someday. So the impressionable lad runs away and spends years trying to find an adult that can make a clever man out of him.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
For it occurred to him that, if all the doctor’s cleverness got him was being ridden out of town on a rail, he couldn’t be so far away from the Fool-Killer as he thought. And, sure enough, as he was going to sleep that night, he seemed to hear the Fool-Killer’s footsteps coming after him.
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Johnson’s Antidote
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in The Bulletin, Vol. 15, No. 780
794 words - 4 minutes
Johnson strives to find a snakebite cure in the outback.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Down along the Snakebite River, where the overlanders camp, Where the serpents are in millions, all of the most deadly stamp.
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Kashtanka
Anton Chekhov
A fox panting outside in the snow. Graphite filter.
Published 1887
7,781 words - 32 minutes
Kashtanka, the dog, gets lost from her drunkard owner and ends up with a new owner who feeds her better and doesn’t beat her. Yet she still finds herself pining for her previous master.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
From time to time she stopped and, whining and lifting first one chilled paw and then another, tried to make up her mind how it could have happened that she was lost.
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Keeping His Promise
Algernon Blackwood
A large, ornate bed beneath two glass windows. Graphite filter.
Published 1906 in The Empty House and Other Short Stories
5,673 words - 23 minutes
A students furiously studying for his exams is visited by an old friend who appears to be at death’s door.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
The other made no audible reply, and shuffled so feebly with his feet that Marriott took his arm by way of support. He noticed for the first time that the clothes hung on him with pitiful looseness.
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Kew Gardens
Virginia Woolf
A woman clutching her face with wide open eyes. Graphite filter.
Published 1919
2,595 words - 11 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The light fell either upon the smooth, grey back of a pebble, or, the shell of a snail with its brown, circular veins, or falling into a raindrop, it expanded with such intensity of red, blue and yellow the thin walls of water that one expected them to burst and disappear..
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The Killers
Ernest Hemmingway
A wall clock showing a quarter past seven. Graphite filter.
Published 1927
2,959 words - 12 minutes
Two men come into a lunch-room and boss around the server and the lone patron.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The cut-off barrels of the shotgun made a slight bulge under the waist of his too tight-fitting overcoat. He straightened his coat with his gloved hands.
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The Kiss
Anton Chekhov
A soldier next to a cannon. Graphite filter.
Published 1887 in Но́вое вре́мя (New Times), 15 December
7,664 words - 31 minutes
Ryabovitch is by far the shyest officer in his battalion, with round shoulders and sparse whiskers. But when the local landowner invites the officers for dinner, Ryabovitch receives a startling surprise from one of the young women present.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
When he woke up the sensations of oil on his neck and the chill of peppermint about his lips had gone, but joy flooded his heart just as the day before.”
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The Lady with the Dog
Anton Chekhov
A kissing man and woman, silhouetted in a forest. Graphite filter. Graphite filter.
Published 1899 in Русская мысль (Russian Thought)
6,758 words - 28 minutes
An unhappily married man meets a woman walking her dog and falls for her.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“That’s only the fashion to say it is dull here. A provincial will live in Belyov or Zhidra and not be dull, and when he comes here it’s ‘Oh, the dulness! Oh, the dust!’ One would think he came from Grenada.”
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The Lady, or the Tiger?
Frank Stockton
A woman with curly locks in a ball gown by a castle. Graphite filter.
Published 1882
2,747 words - 11 minutes
An unchallenged king throws all accused of crime into an arena with two doors, giving them a coin flip chance of death or retribution.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
When a subject was accused of a crime of sufficient importance to interest the king, public notice was given that on an appointed day the fate of the accused person would be decided in the king’s arena.
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The Laidly Worm
Flora Annie Steel
A frog with a blank stare. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,462 words - 6 minutes
A king remarries to a strange woman. But when the lords at the wedding fawn over the beautiful young princess instead, the new queen curses the young princess.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
For when her tire-women came to dress her they found coiled up in her bed an awesome dragon, which uncoiled itself and came towards them.
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Lamb to the Slaughter
Roald Dahl
An oven in a kitchen. Graphite filter.
Published 1953 in Harper’s Magazine
3,483 words - 14 minutes
A woman’s husband admits to her some painful news, she picks up a frozen leg of lamb and delivers some painful news of her own.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.
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The Lancer’s Wife
Jean Richepin
Six gunned soldiers near an explosion
Published 1876
5,314 words - 22 minutes
Six prisoners remaining from a defeated French army decide to flee and begin the fight again by themselves.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“ I mean to go and kill some Prussians; that is all I care about. If you do not wish to do as I do, well and good; only say so at once. I can quite well go by myself”
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The Land Ironclads
H. G. Wells
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion. Graphite filter.
Published 1903 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 26
8,270 words - 34 minutes
Several soldiers in trenches are talking of how they will eventually win the battle when mysterious black fort in the distance seems to move towards them.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
They crawled to what they judged the edge of the dip and lay regarding the unfathomable dark. For a space they could distinguish nothing, and then a sudden convergence of the search-lights of both sides brought the strange thing out again.
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The Land of Counterpane
Robert Louis Stevenson
Two toy soldiers in 19th century british uniform. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in A Child’s Garden of Verses
102 words - 1 minutes
A poem on children’s toys.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
And sometimes for an hour or so — I watched my leaden soldiers go,
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The Land of Nod
Robert Louis Stevenson
A double bed between two tall glass windows. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in A Child’s Garden of Verses
107 words - 1 minutes
A poem on dreams
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
But every night I go abroad — Afar into the Land of Nod.
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The Last Incantation
Clark Ashton Smith
A cloaked woman touching a tree in the sun. Graphite filter.
Published 1930 in Weird Tales, Vol. 15, No. 6
1,923 words - 8 minutes
An old and powerful magician thinks back to his youth, and of the young lover he once lost. He wonders if he, in all his power, could bring her back.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
But, though these things and the power they held or symbolized were the terror of the peoples and the envy, of all rival magicians, the thoughts of Malygris were dark with immitigable melancholy, and weariness filled his heart as ashes fill the hearth where a great fire has died.
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The Last Leaf
O. Henry
A maple leaf. Graphite filter.
Published 1905 in The New York World
2,480 words - 10 minutes
A young woman is struck with pneumonia, and believes she will go when the last leaf outside her window falls.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves.
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The Last of the Flatfeet
Richard Connell
A man in a tux with a hat and cane. Graphite Filter.
Published 1923 in The Saturday Evening Post, September 13
6,967 words - 28 minutes
A teacher tries to ‘civilise’ a young Indian boy, but the boy has a calling to dance and sing.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
The Indian Bureau replied in two weeks that his communication had been received and given careful attention; but, inasmuch as it appeared to involve a pig, it had been referred to the Department of Agriculture. The secretary to the secretary to the Secretary of Agriculture wrote Ug that the case had been referred to the Bureau of Animal Husbandry.
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The Last Parade
Banjo Paterson
The face of a tired, old man. Graphite filter.
Published ~1902
294 words - 2 minutes
Soldiers beg to go home from the war.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
‘Have we not done our share?’
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Last Week
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The Bulletin, Vol. 13, No. 722
209 words - 1 minutes
A town man is constantly shafted by bushies.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
He went for a drive, and he made a start, Which should have been made last week, For the old horse died of a broken heart; So he footed it home and he dragged the cart —
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The Last Word
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
2,054 words - 9 minutes
A man admits to murder, explaining that he had known the victim since childhood and had seen him in school, in the public, and everywhere else entirely.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Yes, gentlemen, I killed him! In vain do you try to obtain for me a medical certificate of temporary aberration. I shall not take advantage of it. I killed him soberly, conscientiously, coldly, without the least regret, fear or hesitation.
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The Law Beaters
Richard Connell
A shadow of a pointed gun and a surrendering hand. Graphite filter.
Published 1928
4,340 words - 18 minutes
Two men discuss the law while drinking, and compare their past nefarious escapades.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“I had a perfect alibi as far as Erskine was concerned, and there was no way of connecting me and Mance. Nobody had ever seen us together.”
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Lawkamercyme
Flora Annie Steel
The face of an old woman with wrinkles. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
176 words - 1 minutes
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
There was an old woman, as I’ve heard tell, She went to the market her eggs for to sell; She went to the market, all on a market-day, And she fell asleep on the king’s highway. There came by a pedlar,...
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Lazy Jack
Flora Annie Steel
a donkey. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
770 words - 4 minutes
A fable of a boy who can’t do anything right.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Once upon a time there was a boy whose name was Jack, and he lived with his mother on a common. They were very poor, and the old woman got her living by spinning, but Jack was so lazy that he would do...
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The Leather Funnel
Arthur Conan Doyle
A saber sword. Graphite filter.
Published 1902 in McClure’s Magazine, Vol. 19, No. 7
4,637 words - 19 minutes
A man visits his mysterious friend who is an avid collector of occult literature and rare artefacts. The friend reveals that he believes sleeping next to the artefacts allows one to see its history in their dreams.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“The charlatan is always the pioneer. From the astrologer came the astronomer, from the alchemist the chemist, from the mesmerist the experimental psychologist. The quack of yesterday is the professor of tomorrow.”
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A Legend
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite filter.
Published 1905
1,000 words - 4 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The tall, thin, long-haired man, in whose face were so strangely blended the paleness of a life full of starvation and moral impurity and the stern profoundness of inspiration, began to play on his vi...
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving
A horse and rider in the distance. Graphite Filter
Published 1820 in The Sketch Book Of Geoffrey Crayon Gent
12,204 words - 49 minutes
A local legend tells of a headless horseman. But a man comes to the town only interest in the heart of a young woman.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
I profess not to know how women’s hearts are wooed and won. To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration.
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Leiningen Versus the Ants
Carl Stephenson
three ants marching down a branch. Graphite filter.
Published 1938
8,882 words - 36 minutes
Leiningen refuses to surrender his plantation to an inexorable army of Brazilian ants.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Your obstinacy endangers not only yourself, but the lives of your four hundred workers. You don’t know these ants!
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The Leopard Man’s Story
Jack London
A lion. Graphite filter. Graphite filter.
Published 1903 in Leslie’s Magazine
1,573 words - 7 minutes
The lion-tamer tells a story of deadly revenge in the circus.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“And at last one day, sitting in a front seat, he saw what he had waited for. The lion crunched down, and there wasn’t any need to call a doctor.”
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Let’s Get Together
Isaac Asimov
A man with a hat standing amidst a crowd of walking people. Graphite filter.
Published 1957 in Infinity Science Fiction, Vol. 2, No. 1
5,736 words - 23 minutes
Elias Lynn, Chief of the Bureau of Robotics, learns of a plot by the enemy to send ten humanoid robots to infiltrate America, each holding one tenth of a bomb.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“It’s going to be up to us to figure out ways and means of telling a humanoid from a human and then finding the humanoids.”
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Life is Bitter
William Ernest Henley
An old man with grey beard and hair.
Published 1888 in A Book of Verses
102 words - 1 minutes
A poem on the struggle of life.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Let me sleep.
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The Lion and the Mouse
Aesop
A regal looking lion. Graphite filter..
Published ~400 BCE
175 words - 1 minutes
A small fable about good deeds and karma.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Lion asleep in his lair was waked up by a Mouse running over his face. Losing his temper he seized it with his paw and was about to kill it. The Mouse, terrified, piteously entreated him to spare its life.
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A Little Cloud
James Joyce
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
4,930 words - 20 minutes
Thomas Chandler anxiously waits to meet with an old friend who left for London and found success as a journalist while Chandler himself stayed in Dublin.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
That was Ignatius Gallaher all out; and, damn it, you couldn’t but admire him for it.
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A Little Journey
Ray Bradbury
A cylindrical rocket blasting through space.
Published 1951 in Galaxy Science Fiction, Vol. 2, No. 5
2,508 words - 11 minutes
Despite being tricked of her life savings in the past, Mrs. Bellowes truly believes that the charming Mr. Thirkell will make do on his promise of taking her on his rocket ship to see the Lord.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
This is our rocket. We paid for our trip. And we’re going to take our trip!
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The Little Match Girl
Hans Christian Andersen
A ragged girl holding a candle waits outside.
Published 1845 in Dansk Folkekalender for 1846
1,015 words - 5 minutes
A girl wanders the street with a job to do.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Oh! a match might afford her a world of comfort, if she only dared take a single one out of the bundle, draw it against the wall, and warm her fingers by it.
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The Little Mermaid
Hans Christian Andersen
Water colour of a mermaid and a prince.
Published 1837 in Eventyr, fortalte for Børn (Fairy Tales Told for Children)
9,181 words - 37 minutes
A little mermaid dreams of living among the people on land. But the only way to join them means asking for help from the evil sea witch.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
When something like a black cloud passed between her and them, she knew that it was either a whale swimming over her head, or a ship full of human beings, who never imagined that a pretty little mermaid was standing beneath them, holding out her white hands towards the keel of their ship.
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Little Mother up the Morderberg
H. G. Wells
A man sitting on a precipice. Graphite filter.
Published 1910
4,087 words - 17 minutes
A young man makes a bet to a group of mountaineers that he could climb their toughest mountain with his mother in tow.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Wouldn’t it be rather a climb, dearest?”
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The Little Red Christmas Tree
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A spruce tree in the snow. Graphite filter.
1,770 words - 8 minutes
In the future of the 20th century, the Soviet revolution must refrain from eradicating all the bourgeois for fear of ending the revolution by having no one against whom to revolt.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Soon they were reckoned at ten, then five⁠—three⁠—two; and finally in all Soviet Russia there remained just one bourgeois. He was a childless widower, Stepan Nilitch Rybkin, a resident of Malaya Zagvozdka, near Gatchino, formerly proprietor of a grocery and poultry store.
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Little Red Riding-Hood
Flora Annie Steel
A howling wolf. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
734 words - 3 minutes
A little girl heads into the woods to visit her grandma, but meets a big bad wolf along the way.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“All the better to eat you with, my dear!”
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Little Snow-White
Brothers Grimm
A fancy silver mirror. Graphite Filter
Published 1812 in Grimms’ Fairy Tales
3,101 words - 13 minutes
A queen, obsessed with being the most beautiful in all the land, orders her beautiful step-daughter to be killed.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Looking-glass, Looking-glass, on the wall”
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The Loaded Dog
Henry Lawson
A black labrador retriver holding a brick-shaped object.
Published 1901
2,971 words - 12 minutes
All hell breaks loose when a dopey retriever retrieves the worst thing possible.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Why not blow the fish up in the big water-hole with a cartridge?”
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Locked Inside
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A wooden door knocker. Graphite filter
76 words - 1 minutes
A short poem on freedom.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
She beats upon her bolted door - With faint weak hands.
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A Lodging for the Night
Robert Louis Stevenson
A brass doorknocker. Graphite Filter.
Published 1882 in New Arabian Nights
7,830 words - 32 minutes
After a sudden stabbing resulting from a bad bet, a man runs to the streets to look for another place to stay.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“I may be dead before morning. Only this once, father, and before God I will never ask again!”
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Lost
Banjo Paterson
A woman tensely clutching her face. Graphite filter.
Published 1887 in The Sydney Mail
436 words - 2 minutes
A boy runs off on one of the family’s horses and gets lost.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
The old man walked to the sliprail, and peered up the dark’ning track, And looked and longed for the rider that would never more come back;
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The Lost Inheritance
H. G. Wells
Rusty coins in the palms of someones hands. Graphite filter.
Published 1896
2,708 words - 11 minutes
A man tells the story of what happened to the large inheritance that was meant to fall from his uncle to him.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“My uncle,” said the man with the glass eye, “was what you might call a hemi-semi-demi millionaire. He was worth about a hundred and twenty thousand. Quite. And he left me all his money.”
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The Lottery Ticket
Anton Chekhov
A newspaper, mug and glasses on a table. Graphite filter.
Published 1887
1,855 words - 8 minutes
A husband’s mind goes wild with imagination at the thought of his wife winning the lottery.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
And pictures came crowding on his imagination, each more gracious and poetical than the last. And in all these pictures he saw himself well-fed, serene, healthy, felt warm, even hot!
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A Love by The Sea
William Ernest Henley
A four-masted ship. Graphite filter
144 words - 1 minutes
A love poem.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Black as the cloud of some tremendous spell - The susurration of the sighing sea.
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Love of Life
Jack London
A jungle of tall, twisting ferns. Graphite filter.
Published 1907
8,579 words - 35 minutes
A man is left to find his way out of the Canadian forest on a broken foot.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Now and again the wolves, in packs of two and three, crossed his path.
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Luck
Mark Twain
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
Published 1891
1,729 words - 7 minutes
A clergyman explains the truth behind the success of a famous soldier - blind luck.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
And there—oh dear, it was awful. Blunders? Why, he never did anything but blunder. But, you see, nobody was in the fellow’s secret—everybody had him focused wrong, and necessarily misinterpreted his performance every time—consequently they took his idiotic blunders for inspirations of genius.
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The Lumber Room
Saki
A frog staring blankly. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Morning Post, Oct 14,
2,194 words - 9 minutes
Young Nicholas is bound at home while his cousins go on a trip due to his know-it-all attitude. Banned from the garden and any fun whatsoever he resolves to sneak into the lumber room to explore.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
If all the children sinned collectively they were suddenly informed of a circus in a neighbouring town, a circus of unrivalled merit and uncounted elephants, to which, but for their depravity, they would have been taken that very day.
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The Lurking Fear
H. P. Lovecraft
A gothic, wooden, three storeyed house.
Published 1922 in Home Brew
8,155 words - 33 minutes
Fifteen villagers are left dead after an apparent lightning strike, but their bodies have signs of lacerations from teeth or claws. A reporter heads to investigate the village and a nearby mansion believed by some to be the source of the terrible happenings.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Some said the thunder called the lurking fear out of its habitation, while others said the thunder was its voice.
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The Magic Shop
H. G. Wells
A suited man with a young boy stand before a leering shopkeeper above a toy tiger and a hand sculpture holding cards.
Published 1903 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 25, Iss. 150
3,957 words - 16 minutes
A father is pulled into a magic shop by his son, where the shopman demonstrates tricks that appear less and less like ‘tricks’ and more and more like genuine miracles.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
On the floor were magic mirrors; one to draw you out long and thin, one to swell your head and vanish your legs, and one to make you short and fat like a draught; and while we were laughing at these the shopman, as I suppose, came in.
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Magnetism
Guy de Maupassant
A sailing ship. Graphite Filter.
Published 1883
1,493 words - 6 minutes
A group of men debate the merit of magnetism (mesmerism).
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The child was quieted, and again he woke up exclaiming that his father was drowned. A month later the news came that his father had, in fact, been swept off the deck of his smack by a billow.
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The Major’s Tale
Ambrose Bierce
Gloved hands resting on its owners dress. Graphite filter.
Published 1890 in San Fransisco Examiner, Jan 5
2,650 words - 11 minutes
Bored Union soldiers dress up the youngest orderly in women’s clothing and introduce her to the lieutenant known as a womaniser.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
Moreover, as most men, whether rakes or not, are willing to be thought rakes, he is very likely to resent a stupid and unjust inference which he suspects you to have drawn from his reticence in the matter of his own adventures—namely, that he has had none.
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The Man from Ironbark
Banjo Paterson
They eye of an angrily staring man. Graphite filter.
Published 1892 in The Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 670
556 words - 3 minutes
A country man goes to a city barber and doesn’t have a good time.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
The barber man was small and flash, as barbers mostly are, He wore a strike-your-fancy sash, he smoked a huge cigar.
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The Man From Snowy River
Banjo Paterson
Three men with wide-brimmed hats riding horses in the outback.
Published 1890 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 532
1,065 words - 5 minutes
A prized, young racehorse escapes into the wild, and so all the best horsemen gather for one glorious chase.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko’s side, Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough, Where a horse’s hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride, The man that holds his own is good enough.
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Man from the South
Roald Dahl
A man seen from behind wearing a panama hat. Graphite filter.
Published 1948 in Collier’s
4,065 words - 17 minutes
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
“Yes. Why not? You win, you take de car. You looss, I take de finger.”
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The Man in a Case
Anton Chekhov
A man in a tuxedo tipping his hat. Graphite Filter.
Published 1898 in Русская мысль (Russian Thought), No. 7, July
5,285 words - 22 minutes
A schoolteacher tells of a colleague he once had who lived his life as if ‘in a case’.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
‘No; marriage is a serious step. One must first weigh the duties before one, the responsibilities . . . that nothing may go wrong afterwards. It worries me so much that I don’t sleep at night’
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The Man of the Crowd
Edgar Allan Poe
A 20th century city with horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1840
3,518 words - 15 minutes
A man looking out of the window of a coffee shop names the different typical types of people. But he finds an old man whose character he cannot put into a simple box.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“The old man,” I said at length, “is the type and the genius of deep crime. He refuses to be alone. He is the man of the crowd. It will be in vain to follow, for I shall learn no more of him, nor of his deeds.”
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The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg
Mark Twain
A letter with a wax seal. Graphite filter.
Published 1899 in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, Vol. 100, No. 595
17,632 words - 71 minutes
The town of Hadleyburg is considered to be uncorruptible, and it’s citizens perfectly honest. But a man who finds himself offended by one of it’s people, sets out to prove them wrong.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“God knows I never had shade nor shadow of a doubt of my petrified and indestructible honesty until now—and now, under the very first big and real temptation, I—Edward, it is my belief that this town’s honesty is as rotten as mine is; as rotten as yours.”
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The Man Who Could Imitate a Bee
Richard Connell
A sketch of a party of six people sitting together with a man in the middle with pursed lips as if whistling.
Published 1923 in Harper’s Bazaar, Vol. 58, Iss. 1
4,069 words - 17 minutes
A young scientist stoops to cheap comedy to gain the interest of a girl and her peers, but the attention quickly turns sour for the young man.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Lying in his bed that night the brain of Hervey Deyo entertained two thoughts. One was that Miss Low was a singularly charming girl; the other was he could not interest her by birds alone.
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The Man Who Could Work Miracles
H. G. Wells
A lit candle.
Published 1898 in The Illustrated London News, 11 June
6,445 words - 26 minutes
The cynical and argumentative George McWhirter Fotheringay, when in the midst of arguing that miracles are impossible, accidentally performs one.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
He pointed resolutely to his candle and collected his mind, though he felt he did a foolish thing. “Be raised up,” he said. But in a second that feeling vanished. The candle was raised, hung in the air one giddy moment, and as Mr. Fotheringay gasped, fell with a smash on his toilet-table, leaving him in darkness save for the expiring glow of its wick.
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The Man Who Was Away
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol 14, No. 774
278 words - 2 minutes
A woman talks of where all her children have gone off to.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
The widow sought the lawyer’s room with children three in tow, She told the lawyer man her tale in tones of deepest woe. Said she, ‘My husband took to drink for pains in his inside, ‘And never drew a sober breath from then until he died.
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The Man With the Twisted Lip
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1891 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 12
9,192 words - 37 minutes
Holmes, discovered by Watson in a surprising location, tells of the missing Neville St. Clair spotted by his wife in an opium den.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“But it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.”
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The Man with the Watches
Arthur Conan Doyle
A fancy, analog watch. Graphite filter.
Published 1898 in The Strand, Vol. 16
6,983 words - 28 minutes
The narrator tells of a murder mystery which caused much speculation in the public where three people disappeared from a train and a dead man appeared from nowhere.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
Who he was, whence he had come, and how he had met his end were each as great a mystery as what had occurred to the three people who had started an hour and a half before from Willesden in those two compartments.
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A Man with Two Lives
Ambrose Bierce
Cliffs in the fog. Graphite filter.
Published 1905 in Cosmopolitan, Vol. 39, Iss. 6
1,935 words - 8 minutes
A soldier finds himself trapped by hostiles in a dead-end.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
I had not gone a hundred yards before I reached the limit of my run—the head of the gulch which I had mistaken for a canyon.
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The Mantle
Nikolai Gogol
A man by a horse-drawn hansom in the snow.
Published 1842 in СОЧИНЕНЫ (Compositions)
11,014 words - 45 minutes
A low ranking councillor must dig deep to spend half of his yearly earnings to buy a new coat, lest he die from cold.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
All that was indecisive and vague in his gait and gestures had disappeared. A new fire began to gleam in his eyes, and in his bold dreams he sometimes even proposed to himself the question whether he should not have a marten-fur collar made for his coat.
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The Mark on the Wall
Virginia Woolf
A vine-overgrown window. Graphite Filter
Published 1917
3,084 words - 13 minutes
A woman notices a mark on her wall. The innocuous thing sends her on a trail of thought into philosophy.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Why, if one wants to compare life to anything, one must liken it to being blown through the Tube at fifty miles an hour–landing at the other end without a single hairpin in one’s hair! Shot out at the feet of God entirely naked!
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Markheim
Robert Louis Stevenson
A small, round, framed, antique mirror. Graphite filter.
Published 1885
6,695 words - 27 minutes
A man attempts to rob a store after attacking the owner, but finds out there is someone else inside watching him.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
In many rich mirrors, some of home design, some from Venice or Amsterdam, he saw his face repeated and repeated, as it were an army of spies; his own eyes met and detected him; and the sound of his own steps, lightly as they fell, vexed the surrounding quiet.
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The Masque of the Red Death
Edgar Allan Poe
An expresionless carnival mask. Graphite filter.
Published 1842 in Graham’s Magazine, Vol. 20, Iss. 5
2,393 words - 10 minutes
When a plague ravages a city, a rich prince invites all the well-to-dos to take sanctuary in his castle where they party and revel as though nothing ever changed.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat.
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A May Night
Nikolai Gogol
A hand weakly poking out of the water, Graphite filter.
Published 1831
9,809 words - 40 minutes
Levko seeks Hanna’s hand in marriage despite his fathers lack of blessing.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Old women say that when the moon shines, all those who have been drowned come out to warm themselves in its rays, and that they are led by the witch’s stepdaughter.
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The Maze of the Enchanter
Clark Ashton Smith
A woman clutching her face with a blank expression. Graphite filter
Published 1933 in The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies
5,882 words - 24 minutes
Young hunter Tiglari ventures into the deadly maze of the enchanter to rescue his beloved Athle.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
About him he saw the heavy-hooded blossoms that leaned from a winy gloom in venomous languour, or fawned toward him with open corollas that exhaled a narcotic perfume or diffused a pollen of madness.
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Measles
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A man with a suit and cane, tipping his hat.
Published 1889
8,860 words - 36 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I It was before dinner and Dr. Iliashenko had just finished bathing with a student named Voskresenski. The warm, southeast wind had whipped the sea into eddies. Close to the shore, the water was murky...
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Mechanical Justice
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
Many interconnected gears. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
3,518 words - 15 minutes
A university professor demonstrates his new invention to solve all resentment to corporal discipline, an automated flogging machine!
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A fine-looking attendant came forward and took off the canvas cover from the strange object standing at the footlights. To the eyes of those present, the bright gleaming machine was rather like an automatic weighing-machine, though it was obviously more complex and was much larger.
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Memoirs of a Madman
Nikolai Gogol
A man intensely staring, Graphite filter.
Published 1835
7,961 words - 32 minutes
Poprishchin, lacking in prestige and romantic success, slowly delves into insanity through his memoirs.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“I think that it is one of the most refined joys of this world to interchange thoughts, feelings, and impressions.”
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Memory
H. P. Lovecraft
A jungle of tall, twisting ferns. Graphite filter
Published 1923 in National Amateur
353 words - 2 minutes
In a valley, where ruins of old buildings are covered in moss, a Genie asks a Daemon who built these long-gone buildings.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
In the valley of Nis the accursed waning moon shines thinly, tearing a path for its light with feeble horns through the lethal foliage of a great upas-tree.
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Mesmeric Revelation
Edgar Allan Poe
A candle in the darkness. Graphite filter.
Published 1844
3,878 words - 16 minutes
A mesmerist questions a knowledgeable but dying man on all the workings of the universe.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
The result of law inviolate is perfection-right-negative happiness. The result of law violate is imperfection, wrong, positive pain.
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The Mice and the Weasels
Aesop
A mouse poking out from behind some wood. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
167 words - 1 minutes
The mice change their tactics in the war against the weasels.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
There was war between the Mice and the Weasels, in which the Mice always got the worst of it, numbers of them being killed and eaten by the Weasels. So they called a council of war, in which an old Mo...
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The Middle Toe of the Right Foot
Ambrose Bierce
A gothic looking house. Graphite filter.
Published 1890 in San Fransisco Examiner, Aug 17
3,214 words - 13 minutes
Four men meet at an abandoned house for what appears to be a duel to the death, but it’s not the knives they wield that causes the harm that follows.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Each combatant took a knife, examined it critically near the candle and tested the strength of the blade and handle across his lifted knee.
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The Milkmaid and Her Pail
Aesop
A bucket being carried by someone in a dress. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
183 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on getting ahead of yourself.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A farmer’s daughter had been out to milk the cows, and was returning to the dairy carrying her pail of milk upon her head. As she walked along, she fell a-musing after this fashion: “The milk in this ...
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The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass
Aesop
A donkey. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
423 words - 2 minutes
A miller and his son take their donkey to the market, trying their best to appease everyone on their way.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Miller, accompanied by his young Son, was driving his Ass to market in hopes of finding a purchaser for him. On the road they met a troop of girls, laughing and talking, who exclaimed, “Did you ever...
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Misery
Anton Chekhov
A hansom cab. Graphite Filter.
Published 1886 in Петербургская Газета (St. Petersburg Gazette), No. 26
2,089 words - 9 minutes
A cab driver searches for anyone to sympathise with him.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
If Iona’s heart were to burst and his misery to flow out, it would flood the whole world, it seems, but yet it is not seen.
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Miss Harriet
Guy de Maupassant
A hand delicately holding a paintbrush. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in Le Gaulois, Ser. 3, No. 357
7,804 words - 32 minutes
A man tells a story of an older woman he met while travelling the countryside. She tends to keep to herself, but upon the man showing her one of his paintings, asks to see him paint.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
In her eye there lurked a species of insanity, an insanity at once mystical and violent; and even more, a fever, an aggravated longing, impatient and impotent, for the unattained and unattainable.
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Miss Winchelsea’s Heart
H. G. Wells
A letter and a sheet of paper. Graphite filter
Published 1898
6,761 words - 28 minutes
On a trip to Rome, Miss Winchelsea meets a charming young man. But an unfortunate fact about him that comes to reveal itself destroys all of her interest in him.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Miss Winchelsea was going to Rome. The matter had filled her mind for a month or more, and had overflowed so abundantly into her conversation that quite a number of people who were not going to Rome, had made it a personal grievance against her.
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The Model Millionaire
Oscar Wilde
A pair of hands holding some rusty coins. Graphite filter.
Published 1887
1,994 words - 8 minutes
Hughie is friendly and well-liked, but a very bad entrepreneur. And his true love’s father will only allow him to marry his daughter if he can make £10,000.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
He was as popular with men as he was with women, and he had every accomplishment except that of making money.
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Molly Whuppie and The Double-faced Giant
Flora Annie Steel
A golden ring. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
2,489 words - 10 minutes
Three daughters, abandoned by their parents have multiple run-ins with a violent giant.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the smell of some earthly one.” “Don’t put yourself about, my dear,”
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The Monkey’s Paw
W. W. Jacobs
A mummified hand. Graphite filter.
Published 1902 in Harper’s Monthly, Vol. 105, Iss. 628
3,950 words - 16 minutes
A family come upon a monkey’s paw said to grant three wishes, but with a cost.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
The first man had his three wishes. Yes, - I don’t know what the first two were, but the third was for death.
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The Monster Maker
Ray Bradbury
A misty planet.
Published 1944 in Planet Stories, Vol. 2, No. 6
5,394 words - 22 minutes
Hathaway and Marnagan’s ship is hit by an asteroid and they crash land on a planet. Hathaway suspects that the asteroid was sent by the infamous space pirate Gunther.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
There was nothing but stars, twisted wreckage, cold that pierced through his vac-suit, and silence. He wriggled out of the wreckage into that silence.
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Monte Carlo
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
Playing cards splayed out over a table. Graphite filter.
2,527 words - 11 minutes
The author lambasts the gambling culture of Monte Carlo.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
However, one insane idea never forsakes any one of them: “The roulette has laws of its own!” It is only necessary to discover the key to them. And so these lunatics sit whole days through, combining numbers, multiplying them by one another, extracting their square roots.
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The Moon of Skulls
Robert E. Howard
A Solomon Kane Story
Drawing of a white man and a black man fighting as they fall from a rickety bridge.
Published 1929 in Weird Tales, Vol. 15, No. 6
19,988 words - 80 minutes
Solomon Kane follows the trail of an English girl kidnapped and sold to the Barbary pirates. But he finds much more than mere slave traders on his journey.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
This could be no other than she whose crimes had become almost mythical—Nakari of Negari, demon queen of a demon city, whose monstrous lust for blood had set half a continent shivering.
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The Moon-Bog
H. P. Lovecraft
The full moon. Graphite filter
Published 1926 in Weird Tales, Vol. 7, No. 6
3,416 words - 14 minutes
The narrator meets his friend Denys Barry, who has bought back and restored an ancestral castle in Ireland. He has ambitions to clear away a nearby bog from his new lands but the locals refuse to help him, citing tales of a curse.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
There were tales of dancing lights in the dark of the moon, and of chill winds when the night was warm; of wraiths in white hovering over the waters, and of an imagined city of stone deep down below the swampy surface.
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The Moonlit Road
Ambrose Bierce
A woman clutching her face with wide open eyes. Graphite filter.
Published 1907 in Cosmopolitan
3,558 words - 15 minutes
A night in which a murder took place is recounted three times, once by the son, once by the father, and once by the mother.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I may spare myself the details; it was my poor mother, dead of strangulation by human hands!
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The Most Dangerous Game
Richard Connell
A drawing of a man in safari gear smoking a cigarrete under a tree in which a man hides.
Published 1924 in Collier’s, Vol. 73, No. 3
7,949 words - 32 minutes
A marooned sailor considers himself lucky to find a house on the island, only to discover he may have been better off drowning at sea.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Hunting tigers ceased to interest me some years ago. I exhausted their possibilities, you see. No thrill left in tigers, no real danger. I live for danger, Mr. Rainsford.
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The Moth
H. G. Wells
A moth perched with open wings. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in Pall Mall Gazette
3,948 words - 16 minutes
Hapley and Pawkins are heavy in a dispute about the existence of a certain breed of moth.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
In his private thoughts Hapley could not forgive Pawkins for dying. In the first place, it was a mean dodge to escape the absolute pulverisation Hapley had in hand for him, and in the second, it left Hapley’s mind with a queer gap in it.
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A Mother
James Joyce
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
4,509 words - 19 minutes
Mrs. Kearney’s daughter is hired for a concert ran by the “Eire Abu” society. But things don’t go to plan.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Mr Holohan, assistant secretary of the Eire Abu Society, had been walking up and down Dublin for nearly a month, with his hands and pockets full of dirty pieces of paper, arranging about the series of...
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A Mother of Monsters
Guy de Maupassant
A corset being tightened from the back. Graphite filter.
Published 1883 in Gil Blas
1,626 words - 7 minutes
A man tells of a a woman who sells her unfortunate children.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“They tell me that your last child is just like an ordinary child, that he does not resemble his brothers at all.”
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A Mountain Station
Banjo Paterson
cattle grazing by a fence on a hillside. Graphite filter.
Published 1891 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 618
288 words - 2 minutes
A man struggles to run a mountain farm.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
I’ve tried to make expenses meet - But wasted all my labours - The sheep the dingoes didn’t eat - Were stolen by the neighbours.
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The Mourner
Mary Shelley
A rocky, flowing creek. Graphite filter.
Published 1829 in Keepsake
8,013 words - 33 minutes
Upon finding a grave, a man tells his fiance a story of a young girl he knew as a child.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Ellen was more miserable than the imagination of one like you, dear girl, unacquainted with woe, can portray.
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The Mouse
Saki
A mouse poking out from behind some wood. Graphite filter.
Published 1910 in The Westminster Gazette, Oct 23
1,520 words - 7 minutes
A man is forced to discreetly undress on a public train to rid a mouse that has wandered up his clothes.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Furtive stamps and shakes and wildly directed pinches failed to dislodge the intruder, whose motto, indeed, seemed to be Excelsior.
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Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar
Flora Annie Steel
Little fragments of shattered glass. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,886 words - 8 minutes
Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar must go out and find some fortune after their tiny pickle-jar house breaks. Mr. vinegar proves himself optimistic, but foolish along the way.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“I will take the door of the house with me, lovey,” quoth Mr. Vinegar stoutly. “Then no one will be able to open it, will they?”
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Mr. Braddy’s Bottle
Richard Connell
Wine being poured into a glass. Graphite Filter.
Published 1922
5,374 words - 22 minutes
Hugh Braddy has never stood up for himself, until one day he is convinced to be more decisive in life.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Then, with the air of a man whose mind is made up, Hugh Braddy said a decisive and remarkable thing. - “Mr. Bill Lum,” he said, “I’m going to get drunk!”
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Mr. Brisher’s Treasure
H. G. Wells
A detailed, silver box. Graphite filter
Published 1899
3,721 words - 15 minutes
Mr Brisher tells the narrator of how, while digging in the garden of his engaged’s family’s house, he discovered a chest full of coins. Worried that the father of the house would hand it over to the police, he plans to escape with it all himself.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
‘Treasure,’ I kep’ whisperin’ to myself, ‘Treasure’ and ‘’undreds of pounds, ’undreds, ’undreds of pounds.’
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Mr. Fox
Flora Annie Steel
A man tipping his hat. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,563 words - 7 minutes
Lady Mary’s dashing, betrothed Mr. Fox never lets her see the castle he boasts about owning, so she goes to see it herself and finds out the dastardly truth.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Lady Mary was young and Lady Mary was fair, and she had more lovers than she could count on the fingers of both hands.
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Mr. Ledbetter’s Vacation
H. G. Wells
An open window. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 16
6,829 words - 28 minutes
After an exciting conversation with a strange man about the decline of adventure in the world, Mr. Ledbetter gets into his mind the idea of finally doing something risky for once and decides to burgle a nearby house.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“The burglar,” he said, “is the only true adventurer left on earth. Think of his single-handed fight—against the whole civilised world!”
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Mr. Skelmersdale in Fairyland
H. G. Wells
A woman prancing away through a forest in a flowing, white dress. Graphite filter.
Published 1901 in The London Magazine, Vol. 10
5,302 words - 22 minutes
The narrator tries to fish out from the Mr. Skelmersdale his notorious story of being taken away by fairies, but the man refuses to talk. Perhaps because people make fun of him, or perhaps for some other reason entirely.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“There’s a man in that shop,” said the Doctor, “who has been in Fairyland.”
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Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger
Saki
A goat standing with rope around its neck. Graphite filter.
Published 1911 in The Bystander, Apr 12
1,377 words - 6 minutes
Mrs. Packletide endeavours to hunt a tiger and bring it back to her house as a rug sheerly to make jealous a woman that irritates her.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
In a world that is supposed to be chiefly swayed by hunger and by love Mrs. Packletide was an exception; her movements and motives were largely governed by dislike of Loona Bimberton.
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The Murderer
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A housecat sitting outside. Graphite filter.
Published 1905
2,092 words - 9 minutes
A troubled man tells erratically of how he had to put down an injured cat.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
And he did begin in a low, exaggeratedly even tone, but with so many pauses between the words and such curious shudders in his voice that he was clearly keeping back, only with the greatest difficulty, his inner emotion and sorrow.
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The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Edgar Allan Poe
A screaming woman clutching her face. Graphite filter.
Published 1841 in Graham’s Magazine
13,679 words - 55 minutes
When amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin finds out that an old friend has been arrested for a famous double murder, he takes it upon himself to find the real culprit.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Coincidences, in general, are great stumbling-blocks in the way of that class of thinkers who have been educated to know nothing of the theory of probabilities.”
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The Musgrave Ritual
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 29
7,568 words - 31 minutes
Holmes recounts of a friend coming to him with a mystery involving a century old riddle, a missing butler, and a hysterical maid.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
His clothes, his watch, and even his money were in his room, but the black suit which he usually wore was missing. His slippers, too, were gone, but his boots were left behind. Where then could butler Brunton have gone in the night, and what could have become of him now?
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The Music of Erich Zann
H. P. Lovecraft
Drawing of two men in a garret room, one playing the cello near an open window.
Published 1922 in National Amateur
3,448 words - 14 minutes
A student lodges underneath an old man and hears extraordinary music coming from upstairs. When the student asks the old man if he could hear the music in person, the old man panics and tells the student to move to a lower floor out of earshot of the music.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Thereafter I heard Zann every night, and although he kept me awake, I was haunted by the weirdness of his music.
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My Favourite Murder
Ambrose Bierce
A cloth sack. Graphite filter.
Published 1888 in San Fransisco Examiner, Sep 16
3,257 words - 14 minutes
Arguing to a judge that there a worse murders than the one of which he is accused, a man recounts one of his other, previous murders.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
This fair offer he rejected, and I then perceived that it would be better and more satisfactory if he were dead.
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My First Aeroplane
H. G. Wells
A small propellor plane flying away from an explosion. Graphite filter.
Published 1910 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 39, No. 229
4,289 words - 18 minutes
An adventurous man with his head in the clouds finally convinces his mother to let him order one of those new ‘Aeroplanes’. All the instructors are booked out, but the man is sure he can figure out how it works and become the first of his town to fly.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
Perhaps I did bowl a few people over; but progress is progress.
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My Shadow
Robert Louis Stevenson
A boy with a wide grin. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in A Child’s Garden of Verses
187 words - 1 minutes
A poem on one’s shadow.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball — And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.
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My Uncle Jules
Guy de Maupassant
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite Filter.
Published 1883 in Le Gaulois, Ser. 3, No. 386
2,532 words - 11 minutes
The poverty-stricken Davranche family holds out hope that an estranged uncle will return from America with a large fortune, after they received a letter saying he had turned his life around and would repay his debts to the father.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
When my fortune is made I shall return to Havre. I hope that it will not be too long and that we shall all live happily together . . .
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The Mystery of Dave Regan
Henry Lawson
The face of a moustached man. Graphite filter.
Published 1900 in On the Track
1,329 words - 6 minutes
The narrator meets Dave Regan in the bush, a man who is famous for turning up after being declared dead.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Dave used to die oftener than any other bushman I knew. He was always being reported dead and turnin’ up again.”
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The Mystery of Marie Rogêt
Edgar Allan Poe
Looking out onto a jungle island from a small boat. Graphite filter.
Published 1842 in Snowden’s Ladies’ Companion
19,567 words - 79 minutes
Amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin investigates the murder of Marie Rogêt, whose body was found in the river Seine.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Yet experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of truth, arises from the seemingly irrelevant.”
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The Nameless City
H. P. Lovecraft
A cave with a shaft of light coming in from above. Graphite filter
Published 1921 in The Wolverine, No. 11
5,023 words - 21 minutes
An explorer finds a city in the desert with an underground cavern wherein lies mysteries of unfathomable antiquity.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“That is not dead which can eternal lie, - And with strange aeons even death may die.”
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The Nameless Offspring
Clark Ashton Smith
A drawing of two people looking at a sleeping man as a han pokes through a hole in the world.
Published 1932 in Strange Tales, Vol. 2, No. 2
7,171 words - 29 minutes
On a trip of discovery to his place of birth in England, Henry Chaldane happens upon his father’s old friend’s house. But surrounding this house are stories of a terrible, hidden child.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
We passed several doors which were doubtless those of bed-chambers. All were closed, and one of the doors was re-enforced with iron bars, heavy and sinister as those of a dungeon cell.
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The Naval Treaty
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 6
12,611 words - 51 minutes
Percy Phelps writes to Holmes and Watson for help after losing an important treaty from his office that could have major political implications.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Without going into details, I may say that it defined the position of Great Britain towards the Triple Alliance, and fore-shadowed the policy which this country would pursue in the event of the French fleet gaining a complete ascendancy over that of Italy in the Mediterranean..
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The Necklace
Guy de Maupassant
A necklace with a large diamond. Graphite filter.
Published 1884 in Le Gaulois, Ser. 3, No. 580
2,838 words - 12 minutes
Mathilde who has lived a life of poverty, borrows a necklace from a wealthy friend to attend a ministry ball.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
There’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich.
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The New Accelerator
H. G. Wells
A chemistry beaker with some liquid inside. Graphite filter
Published 1901 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 22
5,409 words - 22 minutes
A man meets with his eccentric, genius inventor friend, Professor Giberne, who has invented a new drug. They both agree to give it a try together.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“And in this precious phial is the power to think twice as fast, move twice as quickly, do twice as much work in a given time as you could otherwise do.”
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The New Catacomb
Arthur Conan Doyle
A brick wall. Graphite filter.
Published 1898 in Sunlight Year Book
5,401 words - 22 minutes
Two archaeologists, Kennedy and Burger argue over Burger’s discovery of a new catacomb. Burger will only give up his secret if Kennedy tells him the story behind his scandalous affair with Miss Saunderson.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
My dear fellow, you can remember that the apple you stole from your neighbour’s tree was always sweeter than that which fell from your own.
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The Night Came Slowly
Kate Chopin
A maple leaf, still attached. Graphite Filter
Published 1896 in The Times-Democrat
296 words - 2 minutes
The narrator ponders nature and men while sitting underneath a maple tree.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Some one has said it is better to study one man than ten books. I want neither books nor men.
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A Night in Malnéant
Clark Ashton Smith
A spired building. Graphite filter
Published 1933 in The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies
2,509 words - 11 minutes
A man grieving over his lost lover finds himself in a peculiar city built entirely around preparing for her funeral.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
The gray mists and the grayer houses were full of the menace of memory: they were like traitorous tombs from which the cadavers of dead hours poured forth to assail me with envenomed fangs and talons.
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The Night-Born
Jack London
A young woman with braided hair. Graphite Filter.
Published 1912 in The Century Company
5,568 words - 23 minutes
A man tells of meeting a white woman amongst the Indians in the Great Up North, and her story of how she came to be there.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
‘And for the first time in my life, it seemed to me, I went to bed happy that night, looking out under a corner of the canvas at the stars cut off black by a big shoulder of mountain, and listening to the night-noises, and knowing that the same thing would go on next day and forever and ever, for I wasn’t going back.’
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The Nightingale
Hans Christian Andersen
A man with a long moustache lies in a bed as a skeleton with a crowd looks down on him. A little bird sits by his side.
Published 1843 in Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Første Samling (New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collection)
3,538 words - 15 minutes
The emperor of China lives in a palace that is a wonder of the world. But one day he finds out that visitors are more amazed by a tiny singing nightingale than his glorious house.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“I will hear the nightingale, she must be here this evening; she has my highest favor; and if she does not come, the whole court shall be trampled upon after supper is ended.”
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The Ninth Skeleton
Clark Ashton Smith
A round gravestone in the grass. Graphite filter
Published 1928 in Weird Tales, Vol. 12, No. 3
1,847 words - 8 minutes
On the way to meet with his lover in ridge of pines, a man finds the sky and the trees turning grotesque, and footprints too slender to be human.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
All was airless and silent; there were no birds, no insects, no sighing of the pines, no lisping of leaves: a baleful and preternatural silence, like the silence of the infinite void.
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Nix Naught Nothing
Flora Annie Steel
A giant, bearded man with a sword and a fur coat. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
3,653 words - 15 minutes
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Once upon a time there lived a King and a Queen who didn’t differ much from all the other kings and queens who have lived since Time began. But they had no children, and this made them very sad indeed...
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No Place for a Woman
Henry Lawson
A lone horserider staring off into the sky. graphite filter.
Published ~1900
3,981 words - 16 minutes
The farmer “Ratty Howlett” has made a name for himself chasing down travellers who pass by his lonely location. The narrator finds himself caught and dragged into a conversation, but is surprised to hear that the man has a wonderful wife back at his farm.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
I was surprised to hear of a wife, for I thought he was a hatter—I had always heard so; but perhaps I had been mistaken, and he had married lately; or had got a housekeeper.
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Nobody’s Story
Charles Dickens
An old, bearded man. Graphite filter.
Published 1853 in Household Words, Vol. 8
2,178 words - 9 minutes
A hard-working man’s life begins to turn for the worse after the ‘Bigwigs’ start focusing on the wrong things.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He was one of an immense family, all of whose sons and daughters gained their daily bread by daily work, prolonged from their rising up betimes until their lying down at night. Beyond this destiny he had no prospect, and he sought none.
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The North Wind and the Sun
Aesop
A cloud in the sky. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
157 words - 1 minutes
A small fable about working smarter not harder.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A dispute arose between the North Wind and the Sun, each claiming that he was stronger than the other. At last they agreed to try their powers upon a traveller, to see which could soonest strip him of his cloak.
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The Nose
Nikolai Gogol
A man covering his nose with his hand, Graphite filter
Published 1836
9,009 words - 37 minutes
Ivan Jakovlevitch wakes up to find a dismembered nose in his bread. Meanwhile somewhere else in the St Petersburg, Major Kovaloff wakes to find something missing.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A carriage drew up at the entrance; the carriage door was opened, and a gentleman in uniform came out and hurried up the steps. How great was Kovaloff’s terror and astonishment when he saw that it was his own nose!
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The Nothing Equation
Tom Godwin
Drawing of a man curled up in the foetal position on the floor of a futuristic building.
Published 1957 in Amazing Stories, Vol. 32, No. 12
2,930 words - 12 minutes
A man is sent to an observatory in the midst of another galaxy for a six month mission. The problem... The past two explorers were driven insane with nothing as an explanation.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
You feel it watching you and you hear it trying to get in to kill you. One time I bumped the wall and—for God’s sake—take me away from it—take me back to Earth ...
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The Novel of the White Powder
Arthur Machen
A strange elixir in a glass vial. Graphite Filter.
Published 1895 in The Three Imposters
7,511 words - 31 minutes
A woman tries to pull her studious brother away from his desk and into society, but there is an unintentional and unsettling change in his character as a result.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
There was a look in his eyes that I had never yet seen, and the thought flashed across my mind that it was a look that was scarcely human.
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Nyarlathotep
H. P. Lovecraft
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite filter
Published 1920 in The United Amateur
1,150 words - 5 minutes
A man appears in a world of distress and upheaval, amassing followers and causing nightmares.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet.
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The Oblong Box
Edgar Allan Poe
A wooden, five-masted sailing ship on the sea. Graphite filter.
Published 1844 in The Dollar Newspaper
4,565 words - 19 minutes
While perusing the list of other passengers on a voyage to New York, a man notes that his friend, his friend is to take the boat along with his two sisters and wife. But for some reason, they have booked enough rooms for six.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
They were sounds occasioned by the artist in prying open the oblong box, by means of a chisel and mallet- the latter being apparently muffled, or deadened, by some soft woollen or cotton substance in which its head was enveloped.
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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce
A rocky creek in a forest.
Published 1890 in San Fransisco Examiner, July 13
3,730 words - 15 minutes
A confederate soldier is sentenced to death upon a bridge and thinks of his life.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man’s brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.
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An Offering to the Moon
Clark Ashton Smith
Drawing of a womans face in front of the moon shining through the clouds.
Published 1953 in Weird Tales, Vol. 45, No. 4
4,172 words - 17 minutes
Morley and his assistant Thorway are investigating ruins theorised to belong to the ancient civilisation of the lost continent Mu. Morley begins to have odd visions of the past.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Morley could not have told what it was that he felt and saw in that moment. He was no longer his known and wonted self; and the man beside him was an unheeded stranger.
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Oh! The Public
Anton Chekhov
A train crossing a bridge and puffing smoke. Graphite filter
Published 1885
1,225 words - 5 minutes
A ticket collector repeatedly tries to clear his name after offending an arthritic man in front of the public, only to make it worse and worse.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
“Oh, the public! There’s no satisfying them! It’s no use working and doing one’s best! One’s driven to drinking and cursing it all. . . . If you do nothing — they’re angry; if you begin doing your duty, they’re angry too. There’s nothing for it but drink!”
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O’Halloran’s Luck
Stephen Vincent Benét
A freckled hand holding a shamrock/clover outside. Graphite filter
Published 1938 in Country Gentleman
6,234 words - 25 minutes
Tim O’Halloran has never had much help from the luck of the Irish since his immigration to America, until one day he rescues an unexpected little man from being eaten by wolves in the forest.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“By faith and belief, but it is a leprechaun!” cried O’Halloran, and with that he made a grab for the apparition. For you must know, in case you’ve been ill brought up, that a leprechaun is a sort of cobbler fairy and each one knows the whereabouts of a pot of gold.
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The Old Australian Ways
Banjo Paterson
Three men with wide-brimmed hats riding horses in the outback.
Published ~1902
403 words - 2 minutes
A poem on a new Australian identity.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
The narrow ways of English folk — Are not for such as we;
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Old Bugs
H. P. Lovecraft
Whiskey pouring into a glass. Graphite filter.
Published 1919 in The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces
2,952 words - 12 minutes
Old Bugs, a drunkard who works for drink by cleaning in a Pool Room, where he occasionally snaps at customers, warning them off drinking. One day when a young man walks in for a drink, something about this particular customer sets him off.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“He shall not drink! He shall not drink!”
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The Old City Of Marseilles
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A guitar being played by elderly hands. Graphite filter.
Published 1909
2,225 words - 9 minutes
A man talks of the sinful but beautiful night-life of Marseilles, and of an amazing, mysterious guitarist that he once had the grace of hearing play.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The women first, and then all the other visitors after them, got up from their places and surrounded the recumbent old man. From a neighboring dive came the sounds of a concertina harmonica. Someone tiptoed up to the door and closed it without a sound.
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The Old Man of the Sea
W. W. Jacobs
A cigar being lit over a sleek lighter.
Published 1902
4,006 words - 17 minutes
Mr. George Wright asks an old sailor to pose as his rich uncle, therefore raising his chances of taking the hand in marriage of the young Miss Bradshaw.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
“it’s your game, not mine, and it’s sure to come a bit expensive. I can’t be a rich uncle without spending a bit. ’Ow much did you say you’d got in the bank?”
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Old Pardon, the Son of Reprieve
Banjo Paterson
A bridled horse racing down a track. Graphite filter.
Published 1888 in The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses
1,511 words - 7 minutes
Prized racehorse ‘Pardon’ wins and wins and wins until they come against the foul players of the more prestigious races.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
For weight wouldn’t stop him, nor distance - Nor odds, though the others were fast - He’d race with a dogged persistence - And wear them all down at the last.
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Old Pipes and the Dryad
Frank Stockton
Rolling hills. Graphite filter.
Published 1885
6,983 words - 28 minutes
Old Pipes has grown to weak to call the cattle down from the hill, but when he rescues a dryad from within a tree she decides to help him out.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
This was that a kiss from a Dryad made a person ten years younger. The people of the village knew this, and they were very careful not to let any child of ten years or younger go into the woods where the Dryads were supposed to be; for if they should chance to be kissed by one of these tree-nymphs, they would be set back so far that they would cease to exist.
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The Old Woman and Her Pig
Flora Annie Steel
The face of an old woman with wrinkles. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
704 words - 3 minutes
After her little pig refuses to move into the stile, an old woman seeks help.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Water won’t quench fire; fire won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat dog; dog won’t bite pig; pig won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home till midnight.”
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On Kiley’s Run
Banjo Paterson
A shed on a plains, under a hill and by a river. Graphite filter.
Published 1890 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 566
659 words - 3 minutes
The narrator tells of the lively community of workers on Kiley’s run, and how it has changed since being taken over by an overseas owner.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
And far away one dimly sees Beyond the stretch of forest trees — Beyond the foothills dusk and dun — The ranges sleeping in the sun.
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One of the Missing
Ambrose Bierce
Broken wood rubble.
Published 1888 in San Fransisco Examiner, Mar 11
4,639 words - 19 minutes
A Union scout finds himself underneath rubble with his own gun pointed at his head.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
When Jerome Searing recovered consciousness he did not at once understand what had occurred. It was, indeed, some time before he opened his eyes. For a while he believed that he had died and been buried, and he tried to recall some portions of the burial service.
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Only a Jockey
Banjo Paterson
A striped jockey on a racehorse. Graphite filter.
Published 1887 in The Bulletin, Vol. 7, No. 369
400 words - 2 minutes
The narrator vents on the unjust disregard for the life of a young jockey.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Fourteen years old, and what was he taught of it? - What did he know of God’s infinite grace?
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The Open Boat
Stephen Crane
Looking out onto a jungle island from a small boat. Graphite filter.
Published 1897 in Scribner’s Magazine, Vol. 21, Iss. 6
9,309 words - 38 minutes
Four men in a dinghy wait at sea for rescue.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“If this old ninny-woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men’s fortunes. She is an old hen who knows not her intention. If she has decided to drown me, why did she not do it in the beginning and save me all this trouble?”
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The Open Steeplechase
Banjo Paterson
A bridled horse racing down a track. Graphite filter.
Published 1891 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 618
750 words - 3 minutes
A country boy and his country horse join in the open steeplechase in the big city.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
All ablazing with impatience, with excitement all aglow; Before us like a ribbon stretched the steeplechasing track, And the sun-rays glistened brightly on the chestnut and the black As the starter’s words came slowly, ‘Are — you — ready? Go!’
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The Open Window
Saki
An open window overlooking a misty outdoors. Graphite filter.
Published 1911 in The Westminster Gazette, Nov 18
1,274 words - 6 minutes
Framtom Nuttel is meeting a local woman when her niece tells him of how her aunt’s husband and brothers died in a tragic accident and that she acts as though it never happened and they’ll be back any day.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do.
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The Orator
Anton Chekhov
A gravestone. Graphite filter.
Published 1897
1,252 words - 6 minutes
Grigory, renowned for his moving speeches at weddings and funerals, is asked with haste to help out at a funeral that needs a good speaker. Grigory agrees and improvises a marvellous speech at the funeral, only to realise he messed up one small detail...
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Put on your hat and coat this minute and come along. One of our fellows is dead, we are just sending him off to the other world, so you must do a bit of palavering by way of farewell to him. . .”
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The Other Gods
H. P. Lovecraft
The full moon. Graphite filter
Published 1921 in The Fantasy Fan
2,036 words - 9 minutes
Barzai the Wise and his disciple Atal scale the tallest peak of the mountains where Earth’s gods sometimes appear.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“Barzai will behold the gods, the proud gods, the secret gods, the gods of earth who spurn the sight of men!”
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Our New Horse
Banjo Paterson
A bridled horse racing down a track. Graphite filter.
Published 1890 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 527
988 words - 4 minutes
A group of men decide to sell their aging racehorse. They claim it to be a young race maiden to fetch a good price.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
‘We’ll call him a maiden, and treat ‘em To trials will open their eyes, ‘We’ll run their best horses and beat ’em, ‘And then won’t they think him a prize.
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The Outrage
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A man with a suit and cane, tipping his hat.
Published ~1916
5,919 words - 24 minutes
An association of thieves defend themselves from accusations of murder.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Association of what?” he said, perplexed. “The Association of Thieves,” the gentleman in the sandy suit coolly repeated. “As for myself, my comrades did me the signal honour of electing me as the spokesman of the deputation.”
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The Outsider
H. P. Lovecraft
A spired castle. Graphite filter
Published 1926 in Weird Tales, Vol. 7, No. 4
2,592 words - 11 minutes
The author describes how they lived their youth in a castle filled with only with books and no sight or sound from parent, guardian or any human being whatsoever.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
I know not where I was born, save that the castle was infinitely old and infinitely horrible; full of dark passages and having high ceilings where the eye could find only cobwebs and shadows.
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The Oval Portrait
Edgar Allan Poe
An expressionless woman clutching her face. Graphite filter.
Published 1845
1,289 words - 6 minutes
Upon taking refuge in an abandoned house, a man finds an incredibly realistic portrait and a letter describing the tragedy of its origin.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
The chateau into which my valet had ventured ... was one of those piles of commingled gloom and grandeur which have so long frowned among the Appennines.
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Over the Range
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1887 in The Sydney Mail
266 words - 2 minutes
A little girl explains where people go when they die.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Then a light came into the shy brown eye - And she smiled, for she thought the question strange - On a thing so certain — ‘When people die -‘They go to the country over the range.’
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A Painful Case
James Joyce
A 20th century city with trams and horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
3,618 words - 15 minutes
A single man strikes up a conversation with a woman whose daughter is his own age. But the man and the older woman find more interest in each other.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Captain Sinico encouraged his visits, thinking that his daughter’s hand was in question. He had dismissed his wife so sincerely from his gallery of pleasures that he did not suspect that anyone else would take an interest in her.
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A Pair of Silk Stockings
Kate Chopin
A woman with her hands on her lap and wearing gloves. Graphite Filter
Published 1897 in Vogue
1,883 words - 8 minutes
After coming into the possession of fifteen dollars, Mrs Sommers decides she can spoil herself a little and still save money for the more important things such as her children.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
How good was the touch of the raw silk to her flesh! She felt like lying back in the cushioned chair and revelling for a while in the luxury of it.
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The Park Of Kings
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A king's crown on a stool. Graphite filter.
2,177 words - 9 minutes
In the future, after royalty no longer rules the world, kings who are unable to move on and accept the new world are all placed together in a park. The people watch them from outside to get a glimpse into the past world of royalty.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Then the popular government, which had long since abolished prisons, violence, and punishment, decided to build for them in a beautiful public park a large, light, and comfortable house with a common sittingroom, dining-room, and parlor, and with smaller but comfortable living-rooms.
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The Past Was Goodly Once
William Ernest Henley
A candle. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in A Book of Verses
103 words - 1 minutes
A poem on the past.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Nothing is left at last of what one time was all.
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Payable Gold
Henry Lawson
A pickaxe laying on its head on rocky ground. Graphite filter.
Published 1900 in On the Track
2,139 words - 9 minutes
A man leaves his family to seek his fortune at a new gold field. But he worries he won’t be able to make it back.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He was never quite the same after the affair of Forlorn Hope, and I often think how he must have “cried” sometimes “inside”.
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The Pearl of Love
H. G. Wells
A drawing of inside an elaborate pillared structure with a jewled chandelier.
Published 1925 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 70
1,649 words - 7 minutes
The narrator tells of a prince who lost his beloved, and vowed to spend the rest of his life building a monument of her so glorious people would come from far and wide to see it.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A building it should be of perfect grace and beauty, more marvellous than any other building had ever been or could ever be, so that to the end of time it should be a wonder.
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The Pedestrian
Ray Bradbury
The feet of a man walking along pavement, wearing business shoes. Graphite Filter.
Published 1951 in The Reporter, Vol. 5, Iss. 3
1,443 words - 6 minutes
In 2053 A.D. a man walks alone through the streets as the soft sounds of people comes from inside the houses.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Was that a murmur of laughter from within the moon-white house? He hesitated, but went on when nothing happened.
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The Pendulum
Ray Bradbury
A large sphere. Graphite Filter
Published 1939 in Futuria Fantasia, Vol. 1, No. 2
1,661 words - 7 minutes
Layeville the scientist swings in a pendulum above the Earth.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“We shall rebuild his machine, take his precious metals, and put up a monument to his slaughtering! We'll put him on exhibition for life within his executioning device!”
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The Philosophy of Relative Existences
Frank Stockton
A cliffside town. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The Watchmaker’s Wife and Other Stories
2,537 words - 11 minutes
Two travellers find a city, claimed by a local of a nearby village to be uninhabited. But once inside, the pair spot what they think are people running for cover.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“Well, sirs, I scarcely can tell you; queer beings that are not flesh and blood, and that is all I know about it. A good many people living hereabouts have visited that place once in their lives, but I know of no one who has gone there a second time.”
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The Phoenix Bird
Hans Christian Andersen
A mother looks on her baby in its coat and with a glowing halo.
Published 1850
504 words - 3 minutes
A fable of the phoenix born in the garden of Eden
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
On Shakspeare's shoulder he sat in the guise of Odin's raven, and whispered in the poet's ear "Immortality!"
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The Phoenix on the Sword
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
Drawing of a man in roman armour holding an axe as a wolf-featured man leans over him.
Published 1932 in Weird Tales, Vol. 20, No. 6
9,026 words - 37 minutes
A group of rebels plan to kill the king of Aquilonia, Conan.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“I am the force which has welded together the steel in each, and by the clay in each, I will crush them when the time comes. But that lies in the future; tonight the king dies.”
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Pickman’s Model
H. P. Lovecraft
A paintbrush held delicately in hand. Graphite filter
Published 1926 in Weird Tales, Vol. 10, No. 4
5,440 words - 22 minutes
Boston painter Thurber tells of being invited by a fellow painter of horrific scenes to see works that would be rejected by their local art clubs. But despite his strong heart and keen interest, Thurber grows disturbed by the lifelike style of the grotesque artworks.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
You recall that Pickman’s forte was faces. I don’t believe anybody since Goya could put so much of sheer hell into a set of features or a twist of expression.
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The Picture
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A hand delicately holding a small paintbrush. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
5,737 words - 23 minutes
A prince travels the world and grows bored, unimpressed by wealth, unenthused by activities and uninterested in women. When he finally finds a woman that steals his heart, she returns no feelings in kind.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He was used to having women run after him, and so he had very little respect for them. But in this case the lady paid him no special attention at all.
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The Picture in the House
H. P. Lovecraft
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite filter
Published 1921 in National Amateur
3,312 words - 14 minutes
A genealogist seeks shelter in what he presumes to be an abandoned house. But he finds a man inside with an extremely old-time accent and equally old antiques on the wall.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Only the silent, sleepy, staring houses in the backwoods can tell all that has lain hidden since the early days; and they are not communicative, being loath to shake off the drowsiness which helps them forget.
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The Piebald Horses
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A bridled Piebald horse grazing on grass. Graphite filter.
Published 1889
2,172 words - 9 minutes
A heroic fable on how the beloved black-and-white-patterned piebald horses came to be.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
To whom can we turn, in deep trouble, in sickness, at the hour of death? God is too distant and awe-inspiring, and how dare one trouble the Heavenly Mother with the loathsome ills of mankind?
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A Piece of Steak
Jack London
Drawing of a man in a cap and a woman hold eachother near a table with a teacup and kettle.
Published 1909 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 182, Iss. 21
7,657 words - 31 minutes
Two men box for fifteen rounds, the younger man for glory and the older man to feed his family.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
He lacked the wisdom, and the only way for him to get it was to buy it with Youth; and when wisdom was his, Youth would have been spent in buying it.
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The Piece of String
Guy de Maupassant
A frayed piece of string. Graphite filter.
Published 1883
2,325 words - 10 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
It was market-day, and from all the country round Goderville the peasants and their wives were coming toward the town. The men walked slowly, throwing the whole body forward at every step of their lon...
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The Pit and the Pendulum
Edgar Allan Poe
A brick wall. Graphite filter.
Published 1842 in The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843
6,098 words - 25 minutes
A man is imprisoned in a dark room, soon finding himself strapped to an agonisingly torturous machine.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Then silence, and stillness, and night were the universe.
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The Planet of the Dead
Clark Ashton Smith
A tripod telescope looking up into the stars. Graphite filter
Published 1932 in Weird Tales, Vol. 19, No. 3
4,553 words - 19 minutes
Francis Melchior, a curious and nostalgic man is looking at a star when he falls unconscious and wakes up as if his entire life had been a dream.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
One midnight, when he was peering through the telescope, he fancied that the star looked a little larger and brighter than usual.
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The Plattner Story
H. G. Wells
A chemistry beaker. Graphite Filter.
Published 1896 in The New Review
7,713 words - 31 minutes
Gottfried Plattner, teacher of modern languages, disappears after a chemistry accident, only to reappear nine days later.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
He held the medicine bottle in his left hand. The stuff began to smoke and melt, and then—exploded with deafening violence and a blinding flash.
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The Plutonian Drug
Clark Ashton Smith
A small vial with mist inside. Graphite filter
Published 1934 in Amazing Stories, Vol. 9, No. 5
4,017 words - 17 minutes
Balcoth agrees to take the unstudied drug ‘Plutonian’ that Dr Manners claims will allow him to see time just as he sees the three dimensions of space now.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Without surprise, he found that he was gazing simultaneously in two directions. On either hand, for a vast distance that was wholly void of normal perspective, a weird and peculiar landscape stretched away, traversed by an unbroken frieze or bas-relief of human figures that ran like a straight undeviating wall.
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The Poets of the Tomb
Henry Lawson
A wooden coffin with a cross. Graphite filter.
Published 1892 in The Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 660
356 words - 2 minutes
A criticism of life-hating poetry.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
They say that man is made of dirt, and die, of course, he must — But, all the same, a man is made of pretty solid dust.
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Polaris
H. P. Lovecraft
A flare of white particles. Graphite filter
Published 1920 in The Philosopher
1,522 words - 7 minutes
Under the light of the North Pole Star a man has visions of a ghostly city that become stronger and stronger each time, eventually allowing him to move and interact as an inhabitant.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
And it was under a horned waning moon that I saw the city for the first time. Still and somnolent did it lie, on a strange plateau in a hollow betwixt strange peaks.
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The Poor Relation’s Story
Charles Dickens
A man in a suit and tipping his tophat. Graphite filter.
Published 1852 in Household Words, 1852 Christmas Edition
4,286 words - 18 minutes
The poorest member of a family explains the truth behind his life.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“This is the gentleman who, people say, is nobody’s enemy but his own. This is the gentleman who can’t say no.”
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Praise the Generous Gods
William Ernest Henley
The sunrise. Graphite filter.
Published 1888 in A Book of Verses
75 words - 1 minutes
A poem on the gift of life.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
It is common and divine.
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The Premature Burial
Edgar Allan Poe
A gravestone. Graphite filter.
Published 1844 in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper
5,456 words - 22 minutes
A man tells stories of people suffering from that which scares himself most of all things, being buried alive. Suffering from catalepsy or something similar, he often falls into long comas and fears that one day he will be presumed dead and given one of these premature burials.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
There are certain themes of which the interest is all-absorbing, but which are too entirely horrible for the purposes of legitimate fiction.
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The Prince Has the Mumps
Richard Connell
A royal carriage in front of a spired building. Graphite Filter
Published 1923 in The Saturday Evening Post, September 10
4,994 words - 20 minutes
The crown prince is sick just before a very important speech he is to make. He is stressed that he will fail his duties until his father, the king, comes up with a plan so ridiculous it makes the prince feel even worse.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
“It’s the fashion in these times to pretend that a prince is just like any other man in the country, and not a bit better. That’s rot, of course, and no one knows it better than the people.”
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The Princess and the Pea
Hans Christian Andersen
A king and queen stack pillows on top of a bed.
Published 1835
379 words - 2 minutes
A Queen devises a test to see if a girl is a real princess and fit for her son.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.
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The Princess and the Puma
O. Henry
A stalking puma on a rock. Graphite filter.
Published 1907
2,414 words - 10 minutes
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
There had to be a king and queen, of course. The king was a terrible old man who wore six-shooters and spurs, and shouted in such a tremendous voice that the rattlers on the prairie would run into their holes under the prickly pear.
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The Private History of a Campaign that Failed
Mark Twain
A person sitting at the edge of a precipice overlooking a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1896
7,979 words - 32 minutes
A team of young confederate soldiers blunder their way through the U.S. civil war.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
You have heard from a great many people who did something in the war, is it not fair and right that you listen a little moment to one who started out to do something in it but didn’t?
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The Problem of Thor Bridge
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1922 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 63
9,570 words - 39 minutes
Neil Gibson comes to Holmes to help clear the name of his governess of the murder of Gibson’s wife. A motive, a note, and a gun all point guilt at the governess, but Gibson doesn’t believe it.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Then I can assure you that our relations were entirely and always those of an employer towards a young lady whom he never conversed with, or ever saw, save when she was in the company of his children.”
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The Puppet-show Man
Hans Christian Andersen
A drawing of a man sitting at a table of half a dozen puppet sized humans pleading for his attention.
Published 1851
1,664 words - 7 minutes
A puppet master meets a physics lecturer and they discuss each others’ expertise.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“‘The whole world is but a series of miracles,’ said the lecturer, 'but we are so accustomed to them that we call them everyday matters.’”
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The Purloined Letter
Edgar Allan Poe
A letter and a sheet of paper. Graphite filter
Published 1844
6,966 words - 28 minutes
Amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin is approached by the police to help with stopping the man who has blackmailed the queen.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Not altogether a fool,” said G., “but then he’s a poet, which I take to be only one remove from a fool.”
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The Purple Pileus
H. G. Wells
two tall, white mushrooms. Graphite filter.
Published 1896
4,477 words - 18 minutes
Mr. Coombes feels he has no respect from his wife or his friends. But then one day after leaving his house in shame, he comes across some peculiar mushrooms.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A curious, tingling sensation began in his finger-tips and toes. His pulse began to move faster. The blood in his ears sounded like a mill-race.
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Queen of the Black Coast
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
A naked woman with a sword defends a fallen Conan from a long-armed, bat-headed beast.
Published 1934 in Weird Tales, Vol. 23, No. 5
11,377 words - 46 minutes
Within a day of learning of the infamous pirate-queen Bêlit, Conan finds himself face to face with the legend herself.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“By Ishtar, I have never seen your like, though I have ranged the sea from the coasts of Zingara to the fires of the ultimate south. Whence come you?”
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The Queer Feet
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
Three waiters converse while hunched over. Black and white drawing.
Published 1910 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 14
7,617 words - 31 minutes
Father Brown is called to an exclusive club where a waiter has had a stroke, but soon after hearing the dying man’s confession he notices suspicious footsteps.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
First, there came a long rush of rapid little steps, such as a light man might make in winning a walking race. At a certain point they stopped and changed to a sort of slow, swinging stamp, numbering not a quarter of the steps, but occupying about the same time.
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A Queer Night in Paris
Guy de Maupassant
Four wine glasses being clinked together. Graphite Filter.
Published 1883
3,133 words - 13 minutes
Mattres Saval, on a visit to Paris to see a rendition of Henry VIII, happens upon a famous painter who invites Saval to a party.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“You will bring up my dinner at once, and then carry to my new studio, 15 Boulevard de Clichy, thirty bottles of beer, and the ham I ordered this morning. We are going to have a housewarming.”
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The Quest of Iranon
H. P. Lovecraft
A person in the middle of a vast desert. Graphite filter
Published 1935 in Galleon
2,774 words - 12 minutes
A golden-haired boy roams from city to city in search of the great city of Aira, of which he tells glorious tales.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Into the granite city of Teloth wandered the youth, vine-crowned, his yellow hair glistening with myrrh and his purple robe torn with briers of the mountain Sidrak that lies across the antique bridge of stone.
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The Ransom of Red Chief
O. Henry
A smiling boy. Graphite filter
Published 1907
4,375 words - 18 minutes
Two criminals decide to kidnap a rich man’s young boy for some quick money, but the boy turns out to be a lot of work.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Do you think anybody will pay out money to get a little imp like that back home?”
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Rapunzel
Brothers Grimm
A young woman with braids. Graphite filter.
Published 1812 in Grimms’ Fairy Tales
1,401 words - 6 minutes
After stealing from the garden of an enchantress, a man and woman must give her their child. The child grows into a beautiful woman, all the while locked up in a tall tower.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let down your hair to me.’
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The Rats in the Walls
H. P. Lovecraft
A broken brick wall. Graphite filter
Published 1924 in Weird Tales, Vol. 3, No. 3
7,935 words - 32 minutes
A man rebuilds his ancestral home and moves in, only to hear the sound of rats scurrying in the walls.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Whether the arras actually moved I cannot say. I think it did, very slightly. But what I can swear to is that behind it I heard a low, distinct scurrying as of rats or mice.
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Rattle of Bones
Robert E. Howard
A Solomon Kane Story
Drawing of a skeleton strangling a man on a wooden floor.
Published 1929 in Weird Tales, Vol. 13, No. 6
2,498 words - 10 minutes
Solomon Kane and a new acquantance arrive at a tavern with no customers nor staff besides its owner. Despite their suspicions they stay for the night, only to find more skeletons in more closets.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“A strange tavern! What is the name, now? These German words come not easily to me—the Cleft Skull? A bloody name, i’faith.”
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The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe
A sitting raven. Graphite filter.
Published 1845 in The New York Evening Mirror or The American Review
1,067 words - 5 minutes
A man in despair over a lost lover is visited by a raven that torments him over his tragic circumstances, while only ever saying one word.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only — That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
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The Reconciliation
H. G. Wells
Drink being poured into a champagne flute . Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in The Weekly Sun Literary Supplement
2,368 words - 10 minutes
Temple tries to reconcile with Findlay, who wronged him when they were younger. But he struggles to keep his temper.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
‘There’s no woman worth a man’s friendship’
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The Recovery
Kate Chopin
A late 19th century city with trams and horses. Graphite Filter
Published 1896 in Vogue, Vol. 7, Iss. 21
1,286 words - 6 minutes
A woman sees for the first time after healing from her blindness.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“The world has not changed,” she murmured; “it has only grown more beautiful. Oh, I had forgotten how beautiful!”
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The Red Ettin
Flora Annie Steel
A knife with a wooden handle sticking out of outside grass.
Published 1918
1,751 words - 8 minutes
After a widow’s two sons come of age, she must send them away to seek their adventure. But the oldest and brashest of the two refuses to take advice.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
So he went, but as he was bringing home the water, a raven over his head cried to him to look, and he would see that the water was running out.
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The Red One
Jack London
Drawing of a man holding a gun poking out from trees.
Published 1918 in The Cosmopolitan, Vol. 65, No. 5
9,949 words - 40 minutes
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
“And I shall talk to you and tell you the many secrets you want to know. Which will not matter, for you will be dead.”
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The Red Room
H. G. Wells
A small candle in the dark. Graphite filter
Published 1896 in The Idler
3,621 words - 15 minutes
Residents of a house with a tragic history warn a man not to spend the night in the ‘red room’. But the man insists that he will be fine.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
My candle rolled away from me, and I snatched another as I rose. Abruptly this was blown out, as I swung it off the table, by the wind of my sudden movement, and immediately the two remaining candles followed.
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Red Shadows
Robert E. Howard
A Solomon Kane Story
Drawing of a man stabbing another in the back as he opens a chest.
Published 1928 in Weird Tales, Vol. 12, No. 2
10,654 words - 43 minutes
Solomon Kane finds a dying girl, who tells of a bandits led by ‘Le Loup’. Kane tracks the murderer but ‘Le Loup’ continues to evade him.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“A long trail, Monsieur,” said he. “It began in the mountains of France; it ends in an African jungle. I have wearied of the game at last, Monsieur—and you die.”
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The Red-Headed League
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1891 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2
9,098 words - 37 minutes
A red-headed man presents a curious case to detective Sherlock Holmes concerning a peculiar company that only offered work to people with red hair.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“As a rule,” said Holmes, “the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter.”
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A Reflection
Kate Chopin
A late 19th century city with trams and horses. Graphite Filter
Published 1899
249 words - 1 minutes
The narrator contemplates the ability of those more fortunate to stay in line with the procession of life.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Ah! that moving procession that has left me by the road-side! Its fantastic colors are more brilliant and beautiful than the sun on the undulating waters.
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The Reigate Squires
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 30
7,190 words - 29 minutes
Watson and Holmes head to a country town for a break from detective work, but instead the crime follows suit manifesting in a burglary in a nearby estate and something even worse soon after.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Neither, sir. It was William the coachman. Shot through the heart, sir, and never spoke again.”
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The Relic
Guy de Maupassant
A decorated silver box. Graphite Filter.
Published 1882
1,891 words - 8 minutes
Henri’s fiancée asks him to bring back from Germany a souvenir that will prove his love for her.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
You must bring me back something; a mere trifle, just a souvenir, but a souvenir that you have chosen for me. You must guess what I should like best, do you hear? And then I shall see whether you have any imagination.
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The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes
H. G. Wells
A wooden, five-masted sailing ship on the sea. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in Pall Mall Budget
3,816 words - 16 minutes
After a heavy thunderstorm, Bellows finds his colleague Davidson acting disorientated. He clutches at things that don’t exist and is surprised when Bellows speaks, eventually explaining that his sight is of a completely different environment to the one he can feel and is in fact inhabiting.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
He was blind and helpless. We had to walk him down the passage, one at each elbow, to Boyce’s private room, and while Boyce talked to him there, and humored him about this ship idea, I went along the corridor and asked old Wade to come and look at him.
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A Report to an Academy
Franz Kafka
A stoic looking chimp. Graphite Filter.
Published 1917 in Der Jude (The Jew)
3,833 words - 16 minutes
An ape tells a crowd of his pathway to walking and talking like a human.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
With an effort which up to this point has never been repeated on earth, I have attained the average education of a European man.
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A Reputation
Richard Connell
A man in a tuxedo tipping his hat. Graphite Filter.
Published 1922 in Century Magazine
5,339 words - 22 minutes
Saunders Rook wants very badly to be as popular as the others of his club of liberal professionals, so he blurts out the first thing he can think of that will get him some attention. Unfortunately, he leaves himself with no choice but to stick by what he says.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
It wasn’t always like that. Funny how little interest people took in me when I only wanted to live.
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Requiescat
Oscar Wilde
A gravestone. Graphite Filter.
Published 1881
81 words - 1 minutes
The narrator laments over a woman who has passed away.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
She that was young and fair Fallen to dust.
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The Resident Patient
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 6
6,607 words - 27 minutes
Mr. Blessington lives in a house turned general practice and expertised by the hired Dr. Trevelyan. After two strange men turn up, Blessington becomes panicked and sends the Dr. to ask Holmes for help.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“And no advice for me?” cried Blessington, in a breaking voice. “My advice to your, sir, is to speak the truth.”
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A Retrieved Reformation
O. Henry
A man with a suit and cane, tipping his hat. Graphite filter.
Published 1903 in The Cosmopolitan
2,803 words - 12 minutes
A notorious safe-cracker is released from jail, but soon after returning to his profession a young woman catches his eye.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgot what he was, and became another man.
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Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite filter.
Published 1819
7,250 words - 29 minutes
A Dutch-American villager in colonial America falls asleep on a hill and wakes up to find the world drastically changed.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
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Roach Hole
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A man with a black moustache and beard, and a wide-eyed stare. Graphite filter.
Published 1905
2,858 words - 12 minutes
The narrator tells of a man from southern Russia who has an opinion on, interest in and even a knack for every facet of life there is. He and the narrator meet over their lives at work, in war and in politics with the zany man only growing more and more eccentric.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“It is therefore perfectly evident, even to a two year-old infant, that nowadays candles burn four times as fast as a normal candle should.”
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The Roaring Days
Henry Lawson
The suns rays coming from a horizon. Graphite filter
Published 1889
444 words - 2 minutes
The narrator reminisces the exploration of Australia before it joined the industrialised world.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Their shining Eldorado, Beneath the southern skies, Was day and night for ever Before their eager eyes.
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The Rocking-Horse Winner
D. H. Lawrence
A cat's eyes in the darkness. Graphite filter.
Published 1926
5,409 words - 22 minutes
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighbourhood.
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Rogues in the House
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
Drawing of a man in a loincloth drops a naked woman into a pit.
Published 1935 in Weird Tales, Vol. 23, No. 1
9,708 words - 39 minutes
Conan is hired in a fight for power over the city.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“I want you to kill a man for me.”
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The Rose Tree
Flora Annie Steel
An elegant-looking, young woman with braids smelling a tree. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,762 words - 8 minutes
A girl’s father remarries, and while the girl and her new stepbrother get along well, the stepmother grows jealous of the little girl’s beauty.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
And when the girl-baby grew white as milk, with cheeks like roses and lips like cherries, and when her hair, shining like golden silk, hung down to her feet so that her father and all the neighbours began to praise her looks, the stepmother fairly hated her, and did all in her power to spoil her looks.
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“A Rough Shed”
Henry Lawson
A gripped pair of sheep shears, graphite filter.
Published 1900
2,447 words - 10 minutes
A labourer accounts his struggles in a shearer’s shed.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I am a rouseabout of the rouseabouts. I have fallen so far that it is beneath me to try to climb to the proud position of ‘ringer’ of the shed.
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Rumpelstiltskin
Brothers Grimm
A blanketed baby in a basket. Graphite filter.
Published 1812 in Grimms’ Fairy Tales
1,138 words - 5 minutes
A man boasts that his daughter can spin straw into gold. But when the king forces her to do so, she has to make a deal with a strange, small man.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
‘Then say you will give me,’ said the little man, ‘the first little child that you may have when you are queen.’
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The Sad Story of a Dramatic Critic
H. G. Wells
A man with a suit and cane, tipping his hat.
Published 1895 in New Budget
3,081 words - 13 minutes
The simple living and pragmatic Egbert Cummins is given the job of a theatre critic without having ever been to the theatre. At his first viewing, he becomes a little too immersed.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
But I could not sleep that night. I dreamt of actors—actors glaring, actors smiting their chests, actors flinging out a handful of extended fingers, actors smiling bitterly, laughing despairingly, falling hopelessly, dying idiotically.
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Saltbush Bill
Banjo Paterson
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite filter
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 774
860 words - 4 minutes
A group of ‘overlanders’ led by Saltbush Bill stop a while on a grassy plain, much to the dismay of ‘squatters.’
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Now this is the law of the Overland that all in the West obey, A man must cover with travelling sheep a six-mile stage a day.
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Sasha
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A fiddle and bow. Graphite filter.
Published 1920
9,211 words - 37 minutes
Fishermen, merchants and thieves alike come to the Gambrinous to drink, revel and most of all to see the legendary Sasha play on his fiddle. But on Russia’s horizon is war, and much worse.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Everyone was overpowered by the desire to sing. Softened by beer, by his own kindness, and even by the coarse delight that his music was giving to others, Sasha was ready to play anything.
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The Satyr
Clark Ashton Smith
sillhouettes of two lovers in the forest. Graphite Filter.
Published 1931 in La Paree Stories, July
2,128 words - 9 minutes
After cottoning onto a potential affair, Raoul follows after his wife and her lover into the old, pagan forest.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Adele exclaimed with delight; and neither she nor Olivier was aware of anything sinister or doubtful in the unison of exquisite beauty and gnarled quaintness which the old forest offered to them.
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A Scandal in Bohemia
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A drawing of a regal looking man in an old fashioned cloak, with a cane, holding a hat and wearing an small mask over the eyes.
Published 1891 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 2
8,516 words - 35 minutes
The soon-to-be king of Bohemia asks detective Sherlock Holmes to help him cover up a previous affair that could threaten his royal inheritance.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman.”
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The Scarlet Citadel
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
A cloaked man thrusts his hands forward as a bird of prey flies away from him.
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 21, No. 1
15,587 words - 63 minutes
Conan is betrayed by his ‘allies’. Including Strabonus, the King of Kogth; Almarus, King of Ophir; and the demonic necromancer, Tsotha-lanti.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“You sit on satin and guzzle wine the people sweat for, and talk of divine rights of sovereignty—bah! I climbed out of the abyss of naked barbarism to the throne and in that climb I spilt my blood as freely as I spilt that of others. If either of us has the right to rule men, by Crom, it is I!”
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Sculptor
C. C. MacApp
Small flowering plants on the ground. Graphite Filter
Published 1965 in Galaxy Science Fiction, Vol. 23, No. 4
4,866 words - 20 minutes
After fleeing the planet as a lone survivor eight years ago, a pirate has brought Jim back as a hostage forced to guide them through the foreign terrain for treasure, no matter what deadly things may lurk there.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
All he could say for sure was that when he’d come out of the delirium the seven figurines had been in the ship; each representing, with an exquisite and inexplicable art, one of the dead crewmen.
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Sea Curse
Robert E. Howard
A masted ship at sea. Graphite filter.
Published 1928 in Weird Tales, Vol. 11, No. 5
2,704 words - 11 minutes
A woman, rumoured to be a witch, curses two sailors for the death of her daughter.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
I set the seal of death upon your brow, John Kulrek! You shall live in terror and die in horror far out upon the cold grey sea!
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The Sea Raiders
H. G. Wells
A hand sticking out of the ocean. Graphite filter.
Published 1896 in The Weekly Sun Literary Supplement
3,995 words - 16 minutes
Nothing can explain the decline of fish, disappearance of boats, and several dead whales washing onshore at Sidmouth, England. That is, until the retired Filon spots dozens of small animals on the shore during one of his walks.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
It would seem, indeed, that these large and agile creatures, living in the middle depths of the sea, must to a large extent, for ever remain unknown to us, since under water they are too nimble for nets, and it is only by such rare, unlooked-for accidents that specimens can be obtained.
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The Sealed Room
Arthur Conan Doyle
A fountain pen writing on paper. Graphite filter.
Published 1898 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 41, No. 93
5,011 words - 21 minutes
After helping an injured young man back to his strangely large mansion, Frank Alder discovers a room sealed with red wax.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“Do not sell or let the house, for in either case my secret will be discovered. As long as you or Felix are in the house, I know that you will comply with my wishes. When Felix is twenty-one he may enter the room—not before.”
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The Searcher of the End House
William Hope Hodgson
A Thomas Carnacki Story
A man sits up in bed as a ghostly figure leans over him.
Published 1910 in The Idler, Vol. 37, Iss. 93
10,035 words - 41 minutes
Carnacki discovers a haunting in his own mother’s house.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“Of course it was absurd to try to make believe any longer. There was something strange about the house; and as soon as it was daylight, I set my mother to packing; and soon after breakfast, I saw her off by train.”
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Second Variety
Phillip K. Dick
A man holds a severed but smiling head which has large and small coils sprouting from the neck.
Published 1953 in Space Science Fiction, Vol. 1, No. 6
15,168 words - 61 minutes
The UN are winning the war against the Soviets thanks to an innovative weapon, but Major Hendricks wonders whether it ever ought to have been invented at all.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
They were not machines. They were living things, spinning, creeping, shaking themselves up suddenly from the gray ash and darting toward a man, climbing up him, rushing for his throat. And that was what they had been designed to do. Their job.
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The Secret Garden
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
An older man is depicted a though he is falling or on the ground. Black and white sketch.
Published 1910 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 10
7,499 words - 30 minutes
A dead body is found beheaded at a party, and a Commandant is missing his sabre.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“That I should have hunted mysteries all over the earth, and now one comes and settles in my own back-yard.”
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The Seed from the Sepulchre
Clark Ashton Smith
Small blossoming flowers in the ground. Graphite filter.
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 22, No. 4
4,529 words - 19 minutes
One of a pair of explorers in Venezuela returns to the other from a three day adventure appearing morose and with little to say about what he found. The pair set out again to explore, but the silent second of the pair grows sicker and sicker until the first finds something growing out of the top of his head.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
He was startled to find, amid the thick disheveled hair, a hard and pointed lump which resembled the tip of a beginning horn, rising under the still-unbroken skin. As if endowed with erectile and resistless life, it seemed to grow beneath his fingers.
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A Self-Made Man
Stephen Crane
A cigar being lit over a sleek lighter.
Published 1902
2,058 words - 9 minutes
Stephen Crane gives his guaranteed method to get rich in the form of a story. A man struggling to find work comes across a man in desperate need of someone trustworthy to read a letter for him.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“What,” shouted the old man in a voice of admiration, “are you a lawyer as well as a reader?”
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A Sentimental Romance
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A beach shore with the sun setting. Graphite Filter.
Published 1905
3,229 words - 13 minutes
The author writes a letter to a long-time friend about their past relationship and current sickness.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I am sitting at this moment at the writing-table, but I have only to lift my eyes from it to see the sea, that very sea with which you and I⁠—do you remember?⁠—were so poetically in love. But, even without looking up, I can feel it.
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‘Sez You’
Henry Lawson
Rusty coins in the palms of someones hands. Graphite filter.
Published 1896
447 words - 2 minutes
The author compels the reader to strive on through hardship, and survive until their time comes.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
When the heavy sand is yielding backward from your blistered feet, And across the distant timber you can SEE the flowing heat;
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Shadows in the Moonlight
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
A bare-chested Conan wrestles with a giant ape in front of a distressed woman.
Published 1934 in Weird Tales, Vol. 23, No. 4
12,091 words - 49 minutes
Conan rescues Olivia from an assailant, but they find themselves on a strange island that gives Olivia horrifying dreams.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Pirates, storms, starvation—they are—all kinder than the people of Turan.”
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The Shape of Things
Ray Bradbury
Drawing of a man in pilot gear and a woman in a vehicle.
Published 1948 in Thrilling Wonder Stories, Vol. 31, No. 3
5,977 words - 24 minutes
Peter Horn’s wife, Polly Horn, gives birth to a healthy baby named Py, only, she gives birth to him into the wrong dimension.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
The small blue pyramid moved. It began to cry.
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She Walketh Veiled and Sleeping
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Two old-fashioned suffragettes with 'votes for women' sashes
Published 1911
50 words - 1 minutes
A short poem on women’s emancipation.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
She walketh veiled and sleeping - For she knoweth not her power.
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The She-Wolf
Saki
Three wine glasses being clinked together, graphite filter.
Published 1912 in Morning Post, Aug 6
2,246 words - 9 minutes
After Leonard Blisiter boasts of learning ‘Siberian Magic’ overseas, his Aunt dares him to turn her into a wolf.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I don’t suppose Colonel Hampton would care to have his wife turned into a succession of fancy animals as though we were playing a round game with her,”
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Shearing at Castlereagh
Banjo Paterson
A hand holding a pair of rusty metal sheep shears. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 730
262 words - 2 minutes
A poem on the hustle of a sheep-shearing shed.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
The bell is set a-ringing, and the engine gives a toot, There’s five and thirty shearers here are shearing for the loot.
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The Ship That Turned Aside
G. Peyton Wertenbaker
Drawing of four men in a field pointing to a city in the distance which is distorted by triangular shapes. Black and white sketch, above text of a story.
Published 1930 in Amazing Stories, Vol. 4, No. 12
11,898 words - 48 minutes
A ship, heading from New York to Liverpool, comes across a strange display of lights in the sky. Soon after, the crew and passengers find themselves heading in a direction further off course than previously thought possible.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“In the other case—our case—the same principle applies. How are we to steer a course through the fourth dimension?”
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The Shirt-Collar
Hans Christian Andersen
Drawing of a boy pulling faces with his hands up to his nose.
Published 1848 in Nye Eventyr (New Fairy Tales), Vol. 2, Col. 2
930 words - 4 minutes
A shirt collar looks for an item to marry.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
“I have never seen anything so slim and delicate, so neat and soft before. May I venture to ask your name?”
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Shoes
Richard Connell
A pair of womens' stilleto pumps. Graphite Filter
Published 1924
3,094 words - 13 minutes
A man defends himself in court having been accused of kissing a woman against her will, citing his strange ‘condition’.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I got sumpin’ wrong with me, I guess. Always did have, ever since I was a kid. I ain’t a bad one, your honor. I go to church regular and I know my Bible and I ain’t never been in no kind of trouble before.”
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The Shunned House
H. P. Lovecraft
A gothic house on a hill. Graphite filter.
Published 1937 in Weird Tales, Vol. 30, No. 4
10,657 words - 43 minutes
A man and his uncle decide to investigate a local house that had been abandoned for having an alarming number of deaths inside.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
What I heard in my youth about the shunned house was merely that people died there in alarmingly great numbers.
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The Sign of the Broken Sword
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
Drawing of a suited man on a horse greeting another mounted man who is next to seemingly hundreds of other mounted men.
Published 1911 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 28
6,893 words - 28 minutes
Father Brown and his companion visit the effigy of a famous war hero, but Father Brown knows the truth behind the man.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
He was found swinging there after the Brazilians had retired, with his broken sword hung round his neck.
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The Signal Man
Charles Dickens
A train crossing a bridge and puffing smoke. Graphite filter.
Published 1866 in The Mugby Junction
5,086 words - 21 minutes
A rail signal man has visions of ghosts, trying to warn him of future accidents along the train tracks.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
So little sunlight ever found its way to this spot, that it had an earthy deadly smell; and so much cold wind rushed through it, that it struck chill to me, as if I had left the natural world.
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Silver Blaze
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1892 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 4
9,567 words - 39 minutes
A prized race-horse disappears and its trainer is murdered. Holmes and Watson are on the case.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
The door was open; inside, huddled together upon a chair, Hunter was sunk in a state of absolute stupor, the favorite’s stall was empty, and there were no signs of his trainer.
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The Silver Key
H. P. Lovecraft
A detailed, silver box. Graphite filter
Published 1929 in Weird Tales, Vol. 13, No. 1
4,988 words - 20 minutes
Randolph Carter yearns to relive the dreams he had in his youth which have been replaced with a jaded reality. He journeys to an ancestral home to reconnect with the past.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Wonder had gone away, and he had forgotten that all life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value the one above the other.
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The Sin of Monsieur Pettipon
Richard Connell
A large sailing ship. Graphite Filter.
Published 1922
4,550 words - 19 minutes
Pettipon, a steward of the ocean liner Voltaire, takes immense pride in his immaculate cleanliness. But one day one of his passengers presents him with a horrifyingly shameful bundle of brown fur.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
To him the art of being a steward was just as estimable as the art of being a poet; he was a Shelley of the dustpan; a Keats of the sheets.
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The Sins of Prince Saradine
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
Two men peer through a window at a man and woman having a fancy dinner.
Published 1911 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 43
7,398 words - 30 minutes
Father Brown and his reformed friend are invited to a prince’s house, but upon seeing a sketch of a brother a scandal is revealed.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“His Highness,” he said, “has just arrived.”
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The Sisters
James Joyce
A small candle in the dark. Graphite filter.
Published 1904 in Irish Homestead
3,089 words - 13 minutes
A young boy learns that his mentor and priest has passed away, so he visits the priest’s family.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“You couldn’t tell when the breath went out of him. He had a beautiful death, God be praised.”
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The Sisters of Albano
Mary Shelley
A pair of holding hands. Graphite filter.
Published 1828 in Keepsake
6,050 words - 25 minutes
A young woman falls in love with an outlaw and gets arrested. It’s up to her sister to get her back.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
His gun is a help to the imagination, and we may fancy him a bandit with his contadina love, the terror of all the neighbourhood, except of her, the most defenceless being in it.
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The Skull
Phillip K. Dick
A human skull. Graphite filter
Published 1952 in Worlds of If, Vol. 1, No. 4
7,766 words - 32 minutes
In the future, a hunter who lives outside the law is captured and sent back in time to kill a man before he starts a religious revolution.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“And you can’t wait for him to start speaking; that’s what we must avoid! You must act in advance. Take chances; shoot as soon as you think you’ve found him.”
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Skulls in the Stars
Robert E. Howard
A Solomon Kane Story
Drawing of a shadowy figure chasing an unaware person through a field.
Published 1929 in Weird Tales, Vol. 13, No. 1
3,874 words - 16 minutes
Traveller Solomon Kane is warned by the villagers to avoid the path over the moor, for there lies an unidentified, unholy fiend that has killed all who have tread there. Kane can’t resist the call for a challenge.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
None has ever seen, it and lived, but late-farers have heard terrible laughter far out on the fen and men have heard the horrid shrieks of its victims.
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A Slander
Anton Chekhov
Four wine glasses being clinked together. Graphite filter.
Published 1901
1,412 words - 6 minutes
A man desperately tries to clear the rumour of him kissing the cook at his daughter’s wedding.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
“I’m not kissing,” said Ahineev in confusion. “Who told you so, you fool? I was only . . . I smacked my lips . . . in reference to . . . as an indication of. . . pleasure . . . at the sight of the fish.”
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A Slav Soul
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A town on a hill. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
3,695 words - 15 minutes
The narrator recalls the strange servant of his childhood household - Yasha. A man of peculiar impulses and a ‘Slav Soul’.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
My imagination recalls with special vividness the eccentric figure of Yasha and the two companions⁠—I might almost call them friends⁠—who accompanied him along the path of life: Matsko, an old rejected cavalry horse, and the yard-dog Bouton.
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A Slip Under the Microscope
H. G. Wells
A man with a suit and cane, tipping his hat.
Published 1896
6,891 words - 28 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“There is one thing above matter,” said Hill promptly, feeling he had a better thing this time; aware too, of someone in the doorway behind him, and raising his voice a trifle for her benefit, “and that is, the delusion that there is something above matter.”
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The Slithering Shadow
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
A man falls through a trapdoor as a woman on a bed pulls a rope.
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 22, No. 3
12,900 words - 52 minutes
Conan the Barbarian and Natala the Brythunian are left wandering the desert after their army was destroyed in battle.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“You can’t fight a devil out of hell and come off with a whole skin!”
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The Sniper
Liam O’Flaherty
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
Published 1923 in The New Leader
1,566 words - 7 minutes
A Republican sniper of the Irish civil war waits on a rooftop, pondering whether he can risk giving away his position by lighting his cigarette.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Placing a cigarette between his lips, he struck a match, inhaled the smoke hurriedly and put out the light. Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof. The sniper took another whiff and put out the cigarette. Then he swore softly and crawled away to the left.
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The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Ernest Hemmingway
several men at a bar. Graphite filter.
Published 1936 in Esquire Magazine, Aug
9,160 words - 37 minutes
Harry and Helen are stranded on a mountain. Harry, dying from gangrene, reminisces on all his life regrets.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He had seen the world change; not just the events; although he had seen many of them and had watched the people, but he had seen the subtler change and he could remember how the people were at different times. He had been in it and he had watched it and it was his duty to write of it; but now he never would.
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The Sobbin’ Women
Stephen Vincent Benét
A solem looking bride holding flowers. Graphite Filter.
Published 1937 in Thirteen o’clock, Stories of Several Worlds
6,666 words - 27 minutes
The Pontipee family live on a farm deep in the wooded valley amongst the bears, and are almost a legend among the straightforward townsfolk. The family mostly keep to themselves, but when the father and mother pass on, the sons start getting ideas.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Harry kicked like a cow in fly-time at the bare idea of getting married, and tried to put it on to Halbert, who was next in line. And Halbert passed it on to Harvey, but Harvey said women was snares and delusions, or so he’d heard, and he wouldn’t have a strange woman around him for a brand-new plow.
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Soldier’s Home
Ernest Hemmingway
A stunned-looking, young man with a moustache. Graphite filter.
Published 1925
2,785 words - 12 minutes
After returning from war, a man struggles to reintegrate back into society.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
His town had heard too many atrocity stories to be thrilled by actualities. Krebs found that to be listened to at all he had to lie, and after he had done this twice he, too, had a reaction against the war and against talking about it.
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Son of a Sloganeer
Richard Connell
A blanket-wrapped baby in a basket. Graphie Filter.
Published 1924
5,961 words - 24 minutes
Mr. and Mrs. Bowser are a dynamic business duo running a success slogan company. But the one phrase they can’t agree on is their infant baby’s Christian name.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
It is not intelligent to continue to call him Baby and Junior indefinitely. I suggest that you send me without delay list of names you consider suitable for him. I will give them my careful attention and I hope we can reach an agreement today on this subject.
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A Son of the Gods
Ambrose Bierce
A soldier next to a cannon. Graphite filter.
Published 1888 in San Fransisco Examiner, Jul 29
2,669 words - 11 minutes
A walking army cannot advance till a young soldier can scout ahead over the hill. It the way is safe he will come back down, but if it is not the entire army will witness him executed by the ambush.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
The soldier never becomes wholly familiar with the conception of his foes as men like himself; he cannot divest himself of the feeling that they are another order of beings, differently conditioned, in an environment not altogether of the earth.
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The Song And The Dance
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A cliffside town. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
1,996 words - 8 minutes
An artist is living in a small Russian town with several other asthetes. They judge the locals.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
There was so much drunkenness among the peasants, even before the festival, that in Dagileva a son broke his father’s head, and in Kruglitsi an old man drank himself to death.
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Song of the Future
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a dry plains. Graphite filter
Published ~1902
1,097 words - 5 minutes
A poem on a new Australian identity.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Our willing workmen, strong and skilled — Within our cities idle stand, — And cry aloud for leave to toil.
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A Sound of Thunder
Ray Bradbury
A cocked, smoking, shiny rifle. Graphite filter.
Published 1952 in Collier’s, Jun 28
4,365 words - 18 minutes
A man travels into the past to take down the ultimate game.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“We guarantee nothing,” said the official, “except the dinosaurs.”
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Spare That Tree
C. C. MacApp
A tree with winding branches in a forest. Graphite Filter
Published 1967 in Galaxy Science Fiction, Vol. 25, No. 5
5,978 words - 24 minutes
Inspector Kruger is on a foreign planet, tasked with finding a tree that was stolen from an emperor of a planet allied to Earth. But on a world without humans he struggles to fit in.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
The flitbot glared suspiciously. “Vegetable, animal, mineral or ’bot?” “V-vegetable.”
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The Spring My Dear
William Ernest Henley
White clouds in the sky. Graphite filter.
Published 1893 in A Book of Verses
66 words - 1 minutes
A poem on the changing times.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Are the skies the old — Immemorial blue?
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Spring Sowing
Liam O’Flaherty
The suns rays coming from a horizon. Graphite filter
Published 1924
2,518 words - 11 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
In my young days, when men worked from morning till night without tasting food, better work was done. But of course it can’t be expected to be the same as it was. The breed is getting weaker. So it is.
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Sredni Vashtar
Saki
A ferret. Graphite filter.
Published 1912 in The Chronicles of Clovis
1,830 words - 8 minutes
A troubled young boy finds solace in a ferret found in his garden.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
He knew that the Woman would come out presently with that pursed smile he loathed so well on her face, and that in an hour or two the gardener would carry away his wonderful god, a god no longer, but a simple brown ferret in a hutch.
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Sssssssssshhhh!
Richard Connell
An outstreched hand with a crooked finger. Graphite Filter.
Published 1924 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 192, Iss. 24
2,787 words - 12 minutes
A journalist moves to a small town only to find people speaking to each other in cryptic signals.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“This,” said Larry to himself, “seems to prove the theory that there are more cuckoos than clocks.”
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St. George Of Merrie England
Flora Annie Steel
A young, armored man with a sword on horseback. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
3,941 words - 16 minutes
An evil witch abducts the child of an earl. But nothing can stop the young George from becoming the hero he was meant to be.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
But the babe was marked from the first for doughty deeds; for on his breast was pictured the living image of a dragon, on his right hand was a blood-red cross, and on his left leg showed the golden garter.
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The Star
H. G. Wells
A star in space. Graphite Filter
Published 1897 in The Graphic
4,433 words - 18 minutes
A star appears in the sky. The next day, it is larger. The next, larger still.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
“It would seem, gentlemen, if I may put the thing clearly and briefly, that—Man has lived in vain.”
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The Statement of Randolph Carter
H. P. Lovecraft
A cave with a stream of sunlight falling in. Graphite filter
Published 1920 in The Vagrant
2,437 words - 10 minutes
Defending himself of suspicion surrounding the now missing Warren, Carter tells of how he was dragged along by his friend Warren to an ancient cemetery to investigate occult findings discovered in strange, rare books.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
You can’t imagine, even from what you have read and from what I’ve told you, the things I shall have to see and do. It’s fiendish work, Carter, and I doubt if any man without ironclad sensibilities could ever see it through and come up alive and sane.
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The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Hans Christian Andersen
An etch of a tin soldier and toy balleringa meeting amongst other toys.
Published 1838
1,706 words - 7 minutes
A toy solider with one leg stays strong through unfortunate events, thinking of the toy ballerina.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
The only ones who did not move from their places were the Tin Soldier and the Lady Dancer. She stood on tiptoe with outstretched arms, and he was just as persevering on his one leg; he never once turned away his eyes from her.
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Steelman’s Pupil
Henry Lawson
Hands holding half a dozen coins. Graphite filter.
Published 1895
1,696 words - 7 minutes
Steelman teaches his fellow vagrant the proper way to live on the streets.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Your father’s dead. You ran away to sea and came out in the Bobbie Burns to Sydney. Your poor old mother’s in Aberdeen now—Bruce or Wallace Wynd will do. Your mother might be dead now—poor old soul!—any way, you’ll never see her again.
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The Stock-Broker’s Clerk
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 27
6,782 words - 28 minutes
Hall Pycroft comes to Holmes, suspicious of his new job. He has been hired by two men claiming to be brothers. The problem, they look a little too similar, and have never been seen in the same room.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
When I put that with the voice and figure being the same, and only those things altered which might be changed by a razor or a wig, I could not doubt that it was the same man. Of course you expect two brothers to be alike, but not that they should have the same tooth stuffed in the same way.
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The Stolen Bacillus
H. G. Wells
A curved glass vial holding a misty gas. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in Pall Mall Budget
2,446 words - 10 minutes
A bacteriologist shows a man all the specimens in his lab, but the man takes a particular attention to deadly ‘bottled cholera’.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“Once start him at the water supply, and before we could ring him in, and catch him again, he would have decimated the metropolis.”
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The Stolen Body
H. G. Wells
The blurry shadow of a human. Graphite filter.
Published 1898 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 16
6,308 words - 26 minutes
After a successful attempt by Mr. Bessel to contact Mr Vincey by projection through several streets, Mr. Vincey rushes to Mr. Bessel’s house to congratulate him, only to find the room wrecked and the man missing.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
The missing gentleman had rushed out of the gates of the Albany into Vigo Street, hatless and with disordered hair, and had vanished into the direction of Bond Street.
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The Stolen Crime
Richard Connell
A man shines a light into the ceiling illuminating a disembodied face. Black and white sketch.
Published 1928 in The Sunday Star, Dec 2
5,245 words - 21 minutes
Two men argue over whether the perfect crime with no clues left behind is possible, and one man ventures his own perfect plan. A third man, listening on to the plan, decides soon after that he has somewhere to be.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Do you think I’m an utter fool—to tell the district attorney of my plan to commit an unusual crime, and the next day commit it under his very nose?”
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The Storm
Kate Chopin
A lone horserider staring off into the sky. graphite filter.
Published 1898
1,889 words - 8 minutes
During a storm, and while her husband and son wait it out at a nearby store, Calixta gives shelter to her old friend Mr. Alce.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
And when he possessed her, they seemed to swoon together at the very borderland of life’s mystery.
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A Story By Angela Poe
Stephen Vincent Benét
An old couple sitting on a bench drinking champagne. Graphite Filter.
Published 1935
6,715 words - 27 minutes
A staffer at a publisher is tasked with aiding the successful, but notoriously tacky romance author Angela Poe. She, however, turns out to be much less boring than he expects.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
The heroines were petite, unworldly, and given to calling the native flora pet names. And over all, insipid, lingering, and sweet as the taste of a giant marshmallow.
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The Story of the Last Trump
H. G. Wells
A sunrise flaring over the horizon. Graphite filter
Published 1915 in The Century
5,034 words - 21 minutes
A child of god knocks over the trumpet destined to hail Armageddon and it falls down to Earth. Down on the ground, one mechanic bets the other he can play every instrument in the shop, including the rusty trumpet.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
But his impression was this: that the flash that came with the sound came, not from the trumpet but to it, that it smote down to it and took it, and its shape was in the exact likeness of a hand and arm of fire.
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The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham
H. G. Wells
Drawing of an old man in a coat and a younger man in a suit standing by a draped dinner table.
Published 1896 in The Idler, Vol. 9, No. 4
6,743 words - 27 minutes
Edward Eden is approached by a strange man who reveals himself to be the famous philosopher Egbert Elvesham. Elvesham declares that he will bequeath his wealthy inheritance to Eden, but only if Eden agrees to take his name.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
I set this story down, not expecting it will be believed, but if possible, to prepare a way of escape for the next victim. He perhaps, may profit by my misfortune.
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The Story Of The Three Bears
Flora Annie Steel
An elegant-looking, young woman with braids smelling a tree. Graphite filter.
Published 1922
1,281 words - 6 minutes
Three bears make porridge and go out while it cools down. The impertinent, little Goldilocks comes in and eats it all up.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
And then she went to the porridge of the Little Wee Bear, and tasted it, and that was neither too hot nor too cold, but just right, and she liked it so well that she ate it all up, every bit!
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A Story Without an End
Anton Chekhov
A coffing with a cross. Graphite Filter
Published 1886
3,374 words - 14 minutes
A man is called over to his neighbour’s house to aid a man who has attempted suicide.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
I have had burdens to bear that would have broken an elephant's back; the devil knows what I have suffered.
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The Strange Adventure of a Private Secretary in New York
Algernon Blackwood
A man with a top hat and a suit. Graphite Filter.
Published 1906 in The Empty House and Other Short Stories
12,961 words - 52 minutes
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“Few men,” replied Shorthouse, with the manner of making a great confidence, but entirely refusing to be drawn, “go through his experiences and reach his age without entertaining delusions of one kind or another.”
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The Strange High House in the Mist
H. P. Lovecraft
A gothic, wooden, three storeyed house.
Published 1926 in Weird Tales, Vol. 18, No. 3
3,768 words - 16 minutes
The philosopher Thomas Olney comes to teach at a college in Kingsport. He soon grows curious of a house on a high crag, with no apparent path through which to access it.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Despite a conservative training—or because of it, for humdrum lives breed wistful longings of the unknown—he swore a great oath to scale that avoided northern cliff and visit the abnormally antique grey cottage in the sky.
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A Strange Story
O. Henry
A stunned looking man with a moustache. Graphite Filter.
357 words - 2 minutes
A father leaves to get medicine and never comes back.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
...on the anniversary of the disappearance of John Smothers, who would now have been her grandfather if he had been alive and had a steady job.
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The Stranger
Ambrose Bierce
A wooden fire. Graphite filter.
Published 1909 in Cosmopolitan
1,906 words - 8 minutes
A stranger appears at a campfire far out in the ‘Wild West’ and tells a story of his band of travellers being ambushed by an Apache band.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A man is like a tree: in a forest of his fellows he will grow as straight as his generic and individual nature permits; alone in the open, he yields to the deforming stresses and tortions that environ him.
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The Student
Anton Chekhov
A large wood fire. Graphite filter.
Published 1894
1,482 words - 6 minutes
A clerical student, walking home through the cold winds of winter, considers how five hundred years ago people felt the same cold and suffering.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Needles of ice stretched across the pools, and it felt cheerless, remote, and lonely in the forest. There was a whiff of winter.
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The Supernumerary Corpse
Clark Ashton Smith
A chemistry beaker. Graphite Filter.
Published 1932 in Weird Tales, Vol. 20, No. 5
3,088 words - 13 minutes
A disgruntled chemist decides to kill his manipulative superior with a diabolical concoction of chemicals. Some side effects may occur.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
My motives in the killing of Jasper Trilt, though imperative, were far from extraordinary. He had wronged me enough, in the course of a twelve years’ acquaintance, to warrant his death twice over.
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A Suspicious Gift
Algernon Blackwood
a man covering his face with his hand. Graphite filter.
Published 1906 in The Empty House and Other Short Stories
4,426 words - 18 minutes
A man struggling for money is visited by a man who spontaneously offers him thousands of dollars.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Blake never knew how he managed to smother the cry that sprang to his lips, but smother it he did. In a second he was at the door, his knees trembling, his mind in a sudden and dreadful turmoil.
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The Swagman’s Rest
Banjo Paterson
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in The Man From Snowy River and Other Verses
405 words - 2 minutes
A heavy-drinking swagman asks to be buried under the bloodwood trees.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Just take and shovel me out of the grave - And, maybe, I’ll bring you luck.
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The Tailor of Gloucester
Beatrix Potter
A mouse dressed in a fancy dress.
Published 1932
2,744 words - 11 minutes
A poor tailor is given the chance to make a coat for the Mayor of Gloucester, but he is down to his last skein of cherry-coloured twist.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Out stepped a little live lady mouse, and made a curtsey to the tailor! Then she hopped away down off the dresser, and under the wainscot.
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The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck
Beatrix Potter
Coloured drawing of a duck wearing a bonnet and small coat.
Published 1908
1,256 words - 6 minutes
Jemima Puddle-Duck runs away from her farm to hatch her eggs, rather than let them be taken by the farmer.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“I wish to hatch my own eggs; I will hatch them all by myself,”
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A Tale of Negative Gravity
Frank Stockton
A straight, dangling pair of legs in pants and dress shoes. graphite filter.
Published 1886
8,768 words - 36 minutes
A scientific man invents a machine to store up a force opposite to gravity.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I did not dare to call for assistance, for if any of the simple-minded inhabitants of the town had discovered me floating in the air they would have taken me for a demon, and would probably have shot at me.”
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter
The mother rabbit hands the basket over, the rabbit in a blue coat looks off, distracted
Published 1902
960 words - 4 minutes
Peter the little rabbit ignores his mother’s warnings and ventures into the garden of the evil Mr. McGregory.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Now, my dears,” said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, “you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.”
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Tattercoats
Flora Annie Steel
An elegant-looking, young woman with braids smelling a tree. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,444 words - 6 minutes
After his daughter dies in childbirth, a lord refuses to ever set eyes upon his new granddaughter, who grows up outcast and lonely.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
So he turned his back, and sat by his window looking out over the sea, and weeping great tears for his lost daughter.
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A Telephonic Conversation
Mark Twain
A solitary,colourless rotary telephone resting on a stooll
Published 1880
778 words - 4 minutes
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
Consider that a conversation by telephone—when you are simply sitting by and not taking any part in that conversation—is one of the solemnest curiosities of modern life. Yesterday I was writing a de...
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The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe
A tense, staring eye of a man's face. Graphite filter
Published 1843 in The Pioneer, Vol. 1, Iss. 1
2,152 words - 9 minutes
A man attempts to convince the reader of his sanity, and to justify his grisly deeds.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body.
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The Temple
H. P. Lovecraft
The marbled pillars of a temple. Graphite filter
Published 1925 in Weird Tales, Vol. 6, No. 3
5,379 words - 22 minutes
After taking an ivory talisman off of a dead seaman’s body, the crew of a German submarine begin having delirious dreams and going insane.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
I am not given to emotion of any kind, but my amazement was very great when I saw what lay revealed in that electrical glow. And yet as one reared in the best Kultur of Prussia I should not have been amazed, for geology and tradition alike tell us of great transpositions in oceanic and continental areas.
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The Temptation of Harringay
H. G. Wells
A man with a suit and cane, tipping his hat.
Published 1895 in The St. James’s Gazette
1,916 words - 8 minutes
Harringay goes to work on his portrait, only to find himself making it worse and worse to the point of it becoming almost... satanic.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
In a flash of passion, possibly with something of the courage of panic, he struck the brush full of bright red, athwart the picture; and then a very curious thing, a very strange thing indeed, occurred—if it did occur.
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Tempting Providence
Aleksandr I. Kuprin
A train crossing a bridge and puffing smoke. Graphite filter.
Published 1916
3,803 words - 16 minutes
A man tells of how he met a civil engineer on a train. The engineer was anxiously awaiting to arrive and meet his family for the first time in years, but a different destiny awaited him...
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
I agree that there are laws of Nature governing alike in their wisdom the courses of the stars and the digestion of beetles. I believe in such laws and I revere them. But there is Something or Somebody stronger than Fate, greater than the world.
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A Tent in Agony
Stephen Crane
A roaring grizzly bear. Graphite filter.
Published 1892
1,008 words - 5 minutes
A man holds the camp while others fetch supplies. Someone unexpected joins him.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
The bear snarled awfully and made a jump and a grab at his disappearing game. The little man, now without the tent, felt a tremendous paw grab his coat tails.
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Terrible Epps
Richard Connell
Several wine glasses clinking together. Graphite filter.
Published 1922
7,398 words - 30 minutes
Tidbury Epps is an undistinguishable clerk who’s always looked over by his superiors. The only thing he has going for him is the chance of marrying Martha Ritter, but she won’t give him the chance unless he does something about his timid personality.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
It was the round black eyes of Martha Ritter, the new girl at the information desk, and the way she cocked her head on one side when she smiled, that first brought to Tidbury the alarming realization that his heart was something more than a pump.
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The Terrible Old Man
H. P. Lovecraft
An old man with a long beard and long hair. Graphite filter
Published 1921 in The Tryout
1,142 words - 5 minutes
Three robbers target a rich and reclusive old man, despite all the frightening rumours surrounding him.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Little things make considerable excitement in little towns, which is the reason that Kingsport people talked all that spring and summer about the three unidentifiable bodies, horribly slashed as with many cutlasses, and horribly mangled as by the tread of many cruel boot-heels, which the tide washed in.
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“The Terror”
Guy de Maupassant
The intense eye of a staring man. graphite filter.
Published ~1890
2,664 words - 11 minutes
A man, living alone save only his servant, begins to see someone sitting in a chair by his fire.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“It is a mere hallucination, that is all.”
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The Terror of Blue John Gap
Arthur Conan Doyle
A drawing of a cave wherein a man shines a light on an enormous cat-like beast that is reared onto its hind legs.
Published 1910 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 236
7,115 words - 29 minutes
Dr. James Hardcastle hears rumour that something lurking within an opening to an old mine is responsible for sheep going missing on moonless nights. He can’t help himself from investigating within the tunnel.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Now I stood astonished before it, for there were three similar imprints upon its surface, enormous in size, irregular in outline, of a depth which indicated the ponderous weight which had left them.
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That Spot
Jack London
A squinting, panting, long-haired, long-snouted dog. Graphite filter.
Published 1908
4,112 words - 17 minutes
Two prospectors pay one hundred and ten dollars for a strong, healthy, and smart looking sled dog. But the dog turns out to be smarter than a dog ought to be.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
He always came back, and no one asked for their money. We didn’t want the money. We’d have paid handsomely for any one to take him off our hands for keeps’.
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There Will Come Soft Rains
Ray Bradbury
An oven. Graphite Filter.
Published 1950 in Collier’s, May 6
2,071 words - 9 minutes
A house prepares the day for its owner, but something is missing.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“Today is Mr. Featherstone’s birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita’s marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills.”
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The Thief
René Maizeroy
A twisting tree. Graphite filter.
1,750 words - 7 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
While apparently thinking of something else, Dr. Sorbier had been listening quietly to those amazing accounts of burglaries and daring deeds that might have been taken from the trial of Cartouche. “As...
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The Thing in the Moonlight
H. P. Lovecraft
Mud caked ground. Graphite filter
Published 1941
724 words - 3 minutes
A man writes of a dream of strange creatures that come at night.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Then one of them sniffed with singular sharpness, and raised his face to howl to the moon. The other dropped on all fours to run toward the car.
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The Thing Invisible
William Hope Hodgson
A Thomas Carnacki Story
Chalk being drawn over a wood floor next to a candle and match. Graphite Filter.
Published 1909 in The Ghost Pirates, A Chaunty, and Another Story
9,959 words - 40 minutes
Carnacki is called in on account of people being stabbed by a dagger with no wielder.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“And I found everyone in a half belief that the queer old weapon did really strike the butler, either by the aid of some inherent force, which I found them peculiarly unable to explain, or else in the hand of some invisible thing or monster of the Outer World!”
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The Thing on the Doorstep
H. P. Lovecraft
A brass, ring, door knocker. Graphite filter.
Published 1937 in Weird Tales, Vol. 29, No. 1
10,461 words - 42 minutes
Daniel Upton’s close friend Edward Derby is intelligent, but closeted and naive. After Derby gets married to the daughter of a family rumoured to be involved in the occult, Upton witnesses strange changes in his friend.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
At first I ignored such references, but in time I began to question him guardedly, remembering what my friend’s daughter had said about Asenath’s hypnotic influence over the other girls at school—the cases where students had thought they were in her body looking across the room at themselves.
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Those Names
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1890 in The Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 553
362 words - 2 minutes
A mob of shearers tell yarns with some local names sprinkled in.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
You’ve heard of Mungrybambone and the Gundabluey pine - Quobbotha, Girilambone, and Terramungamine - Quambone, Eunonyhareenyha, Wee Waa, and Buntijo.
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A Thousand Deaths
Jack London
A scientific beaker with liquid inside. Graphite filter.
Published 1899 in The Black Cat, Vol. 4, Iss. 44
3,938 words - 16 minutes
A man falls into the ocean and drowns, only to wake up surrounded by machinery and a mad scientist.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Since then my life had been one long peregrination—from the Orient to the Occident, from the Arctic to the Antarctic—to find myself at last, an able seaman at thirty, in the full vigour of my manhood, drowning in San Francisco bay—
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The Three Feathers
Flora Annie Steel
An elegant-looking young woman with braids. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
2,869 words - 12 minutes
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Once upon a time there lived a girl who was wooed and married by a man she never saw; for he came a-courting her after nightfall, and when they were married he never came home till it was dark, and al...
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The Three Heads Of The Well
Flora Annie Steel
An elegant-looking, young woman with braids smelling a tree. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
2,271 words - 10 minutes
After the Queen dies, the King marries an evil woman with an evil daughter. The King’s daughter, meanly treated by her new stepmother, chooses to go out into the world and seek her fortune.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
So she came to the well, on the brink of which she sate down, and no sooner had she done so, than a golden head without any body came up through the water, singing as it came.
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The Three Little Pigs
Flora Annie Steel
A howling wolf. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,428 words - 6 minutes
Three pigs build a house to protect them from the big bad wolf.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in.”
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Three Questions
Leo Tolstoy
An old man with a white beard and white hair. Graphite filter.
Published 1885 in What Men Live By, and Other Tales
1,563 words - 7 minutes
A king asks all his subjects three questions: What is most important, who to listen to, and when to begin?
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
All the answers being different, the King agreed with none of them, and gave the reward to none. But still wishing to find the right answers to his questions, he decided to consult a hermit, widely renowned for his wisdom.
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The Three Sillies
Flora Annie Steel
The full moon. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,741 words - 7 minutes
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Once upon a time, when folk were not so wise as they are nowadays, there lived a farmer and his wife who had one daughter. And she, being a pretty lass, was courted by the young squire when he came ho...
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Three Thanksgivings
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A letter with a wax seal. Graphite filter.
Published 1909 in The Forerunner, Vol. 1
5,315 words - 22 minutes
Her daughter Jean, her son Andrew, and the persistent owner of her mortgage and desirer of her hand Mr. Butts all pressure the middle aged Mrs. Morrison to give up living alone. But Mrs. Morrison can’t bear the idea.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Well, then, you might just as well marry me now, and save two years of interest. It’ll be my house, either way—but you’ll be keepin’ it just the same.”
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The Three Tools of Death
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
Two men peer into a room where a man woman have a fancy dinner.
Published 1911 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 52
5,017 words - 21 minutes
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
“If ever I murdered somebody,” he added quite simply, “I dare say it might be an Optimist.”
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Through a Window
H. G. Wells
An open window overlooking a misty outdoors. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in Black and White
3,084 words - 13 minutes
An injured man watches river workers through his open window.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
He had thought the window cheerful to begin with, but now he thanked God for it many times a day.
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Thumbelina
Hans Christian Andersen
A tiny girl reaches out to a butterfly about her size while standing on a lillypad.
Published 1835
4,334 words - 18 minutes
A woman who longs for a child of her own, asks a fairy to grant her wish.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
In the swampy margin of a broad stream in the garden lived the toad, with her son. He was uglier even than his mother, and when he saw the pretty little maiden in her elegant bed, he could only cry, Croak, croak, croak.
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To Be Read at Dusk
Charles Dickens
A moustached man. Graphite Filter.
Published 1852 in The Keepsake
4,448 words - 18 minutes
Six men sit around a campfire. Several begin arguing about whether ghosts are real.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
‘Now, I am not in the least mad, and am not in the least disposed to invest that phantom with any external existence out of myself. I think it is a warning to me that I am ill; and I think I had better be bled.’
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To Build a Fire
Jack London
A large woodfire. Graphite filter.
Published 1908 in Century Magazine
7,170 words - 29 minutes
A man finds himself alone in Alaska at -70 degrees Farenheit.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was.
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To Kill a Man
Jack London
The sillhouette of a gun pointing at a raised hand. Graphite Filter.
4,757 words - 20 minutes
Mrs. Setliffe comes across a burglar in her house and convinces him to stay for a conversation.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“But you’ve sure got the spunk. And you’re trustful on top of it. There ain’t many women, or men either, who’d treat a man with a gun the way you’re treating me.”
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To the Sun
Clark Ashton Smith
The sun in space. Graphite Filter
Published 1931 in The Star-Treader and Other Poems
293 words - 2 minutes
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
Thy light is an eminence unto thee - And thou art upheld by the pillars of thy strength.
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The Toll-House
W. W. Jacobs
A large, gothic, spired house. Graphite filter.
Published 1907 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 33
3,457 words - 14 minutes
Four friends try to survive a night in a haunted house.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“I’m a poor man, but I wouldn't spend the night in that house for a hundred pounds.”
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Tom Tit Tot
Flora Annie Steel
An elegant-looking, young woman with braids smelling a tree. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
2,701 words - 11 minutes
After a misunderstanding, a king weds a poor girl thinking she can spin five skeins in a day.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Once upon a time there was a woman and she baked five pies. But when they came out of the oven they were over-baked, and the crust was far too hard to eat. So she said to her daughter: “Daughter,” say...
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The Tomb
H. P. Lovecraft
A cave with a stream of sunlight falling in. Graphite filter
Published 1917 in The Vagrant
4,164 words - 17 minutes
Jervas Dudley finds a tomb near his home and becomes desperate to see what’s inside.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
I shall never forget the afternoon when first I stumbled upon the half-hidden house of death.
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Too Early Spring
Stephen Vincent Benét
Two hands holding eachother.
Published 1933 in The Delineator
5,371 words - 22 minutes
A man reminisces on a falling in love with a girl when he was young.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
I felt as if I could run forever and not stop. It was like finding something. I hadn’t imagined anybody could ever feel the way I did about some things. And here was another person, even if it was a girl.
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A Tooth for Paul Revere
Stephen Vincent Benét
A detailed, silver box. Graphite filter
Published 1937 in Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 160, Iss. 6
6,088 words - 25 minutes
Lige Butterwick has a toothache, and only wants to get it fixed. But on his journey to find someone to pull it from his mouth he keeps finding himself in the middle of the American Revolution.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“The liberty tree!” said the red-faced man. “And may it soon be watered in the blood of tyrants!” “The royal oak of England!” said the sharp-faced man. “And God save King George and loyalty!”
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The Tower of the Elephant
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
Conan holds a sword to the neck of an elephant-headed man sitting on a chair.
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 21, No. 3
9,763 words - 40 minutes
Conan the Barbarian hears of a mysterious jewel hidden in the top of a tower. Adventure Calls!
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“There are no guards in the gardens at night for a very good reason—that is, no human guards.”
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The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
Aesop
A mouse poking out from behind some wood. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
259 words - 2 minutes
A mouse from the country is invited by another mouse into the city.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Town Mouse and a Country Mouse were acquaintances, and the Country Mouse one day invited his friend to come and see him at his home in the fields. The Town Mouse came, and they sat down to a dinner ...
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The Transferred Ghost
Frank Stockton
An earing worn by a young woman with dark hair. graphite filter.
Published 1882 in Century Magazine
4,606 words - 19 minutes
While waiting to ask a young woman for her hand, a man meets a ghost who is interested in his plans.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I had no right to be the ghost of a man who was not dead.”
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A Transgression
Anton Chekhov
A blanketed baby in a basket. Graphite filter.
Published 1887
1,750 words - 7 minutes
Miguev finds a ‘transgression’ on his doorstep one day. Ashamed to tell his wife, he searches far and wide for someone to take responsibility for the ‘transgression’ off his hands.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I’ll have the law of you, and I’ll tell your wife, too...”
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The Transition of Juan Romero
H. P. Lovecraft
A cave with a stream of sunlight falling in. Graphite filter
Published 1944 in Marginalia
2,687 words - 11 minutes
After discovering an abyss sinking into the ground, two labourers are woken by a sound coming from within that draws them to venture inside.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
Perhaps it was like the pulsing of the engines far down in a great liner, as sensed from the deck, yet it was not so mechanical; not so devoid of the element of life and consciousness.
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The Travelling Post Office
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 734
365 words - 2 minutes
A young man heads North-west to join the drovers, and one could only ever send him a letter by making it out to ‘Care of Conroy’s Sheep’, as the only chance of a postman ever finding the man is by spotting the travelling flock.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
The mailman, if he’s extra tired, would pass them in his sleep, It’s safest to address the note to ‘Care of Conroy’s sheep’, For five and twenty thousand head can scarcely go astray, You write to ‘Care of Conroy’s sheep along the Castlereagh.
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The Treader of the Dust
Clark Ashton Smith
A splayed open book. Graphite filter
Published 1935 in Weird Tales, Vol. 26, No. 2
3,114 words - 13 minutes
A man runs away from his house after being disturbed by the contents of an old book. On returning, his servant is missing.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Dust lay everywhere: a fine gray dust like a powder of dead atoms. It had covered his manuscripts with a deep film, it had settled thickly upon the chairs, the lamp-shades, the volumes; and the rich poppy-like reds and yellows of the oriental rugs were bedimmed by its accumulation.
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The Treasure in the Forest
H. G. Wells
A beach shore with the sun setting. Graphite Filter.
Published 1894 in Pall Mall Budget
2,941 words - 12 minutes
Two men canoe to a forest to find a treasure they heard of from a man named Chang-Hi, before Chang-hi himself can retrieve it.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
The paper had the appearance of a rough map. By much folding it was creased and worn to the pitch of separation, and the second man held the discoloured fragments together where they had parted. On it one could dimly make out, in almost obliterated pencil, the outline of the bay.
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The Treasure of Vasco Gomez
Stephen Vincent Benét
A crab by a plant on the sand. graphite filter.
Published 1930
5,296 words - 22 minutes
A mutinous pirate crew abandons their captain Vasco Gomez on an island. But unbeknownst to them, the gold-hungry Gomez is exactly where he wants to be.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
When he had wakened, he lay there a moment without moving; entirely happy. He had known many women in his life, but today was the day of his true nuptials.
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The Tree
H. P. Lovecraft
A tree with winding branches. Graphite filter
Published 1921 in The Tryout
1,621 words - 7 minutes
Two friends, both one of the two best sculptors in the world, are tasked with creating a monument for the Tyrant of Syracuse.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
On a verdant slope of Mount Maenalus, in Arcadia, there stands an olive grove about the ruins of a villa.
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The Triumphs of a Taxidermist
H. G. Wells
Many strands of bunched straw. graphite filter
Published 1894 in Pall Mall Gazette
1,464 words - 6 minutes
A drunk taxidermists boasts of all his terrible and dishonest works.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
They can only discover the fraud with a microscope, and they will hardly care to pull a nice specimen to bits for that.
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The True History Of Sir Thomas Thumb
Flora Annie Steel
A large hairy cow or bull. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
2,648 words - 11 minutes
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
At the court of great King Arthur, who lived, as all know, when knights were bold, and ladies were fair indeed, one of the most renowned of men was the wizard Merlin. Never before or since was there s...
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The Truth About Pyecraft
H. G. Wells
A ladder resting on a tall bookcase. Graphite filter.
Published 1903 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 25
3,688 words - 15 minutes
Mr. Formalyn gives a secret recipe to a friend trying to lose weight, only for the remedy to work only a little too well.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
He took hold of a framed engraving rather carelessly as he spoke and it gave way, and he flew back to the ceiling again, while the picture smashed onto the sofa.
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The Two Bags
Aesop
A cloth sack. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
53 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on perspective.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
Every man carries Two Bags about with him, one in front and one behind, and both are packed full of faults. The Bag in front contains his neighbours’ faults, the one behind his own. Hence it is that m...
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The Two Devines
Banjo Paterson
A hand holding a pair of rusty metal sheep shears. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 774
423 words - 2 minutes
Two brothers outskill shearers here, there and everywhere.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
But there wasn’t a man in the shearers’ lines That could shear a sheep with the two Devines.
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Two Friends
Guy de Maupassant
A rocky creek in a forest.
Published 1882
2,188 words - 9 minutes
Two friends venture out into uncontrolled territory during war to fish once again like old times.
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Every Sunday he met in this very spot Monsieur Sauvage, a stout, jolly, little man, a draper in the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette, and also an ardent fisherman. They often spent half the day side by side, rod in hand and feet dangling over the water, and a warm friendship had sprung up between the two.
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Two Gallants
James Joyce
An old man with a harp. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Dubliners
3,905 words - 16 minutes
Two men discuss their pursuits of women, but one starts to doubt the point of it all.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
“You can never know women.”
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Two Little Soldiers
Guy de Maupassant
A bucket being carried by someone in a dress. Graphite filter.
Published 1885
2,046 words - 9 minutes
Two young soldiers see a girl taking a pail to a fro past where they sit and begin to talk with her.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
Soon they would see the girl, coming through the fields, and it pleased them to watch the sparkling sunbeams reflected from her shining pail. They never spoke of her. They were just glad to see her, without understanding why.
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The Two Sisters
Flora Annie Steel
A castle. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,740 words - 7 minutes
A kind and helpful girl sets off to find servant work, but finds herself working for a witch.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
But there was one thing the witch-woman said she must never do; and that was look up the chimney!
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The Ugly Duckling
Hans Christian Andersen
Three children look at three swans on a river.
Published 1843
3,776 words - 16 minutes
A duckling is born ugly and large. It struggles to fit in with any of the animals or humans.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
At last the large egg broke, and a young one crept forth crying, “Peep, peep.” It was very large and ugly.
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The Uncharted Isle
Clark Ashton Smith
Looking out onto a jungle island from a small rowboat. Graphite filter.
Published 1930 in Weird Tales, Vol. 16, No. 5
4,395 words - 18 minutes
After becoming the only survivor of catastrophe at sea, Irwin maroons at an island with unrecognisable flora. But the plants are soon the least distressing thing he finds.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
None of them appeared to notice me; and I went up to a group of three who were studying one of the long scrolls I have mentioned, and addressed them. For all answer, they bent closer above the scroll; and even when I plucked one of them by the sleeve, it was evident that he did not observe me.
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An Uncomfortable Bed
Guy de Maupassant
A bed with a large, decorated, wooden backing. Graphite filter.
Published 1882
955 words - 4 minutes
A man arrives at a chateau, paranoid that he is the impending victim of some practical joke at the hands of his friends.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
I advanced with short steps, carefully examining the apartment. Nothing. I inspected every article, one after the other. Still nothing.
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Under the Knife
H. G. Wells
A box of surgical instruments. Graphite filter.
Published 1896 in The New Review, No. 80
5,556 words - 23 minutes
After finding out that he needs surgery done on the morrow, a man becomes certain that it will kill him.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
Then with a chilly, unemotional clearness, I perceived that I was not yet dead. I was still in my body; but all the multitudinous sensations that come sweeping from it to make up the background of consciousness had gone, leaving me free of it all.
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Under the Shadow of Kiley’s Hill
Banjo Paterson
A window overgrown with vines. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in The Man From Snowy River and Other Verses
264 words - 2 minutes
An old family home is empty, with all the children having left to find their way through the world.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Gone is the garden they kept with care; Left to decay at its own sweet will.
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The Unexpected
Jack London
Drawing of four men in a canoe on the water.
Published 1906 in McClure’s Magazine, Vol. 27, Iss. 4
8,029 words - 33 minutes
A woman marries out of a typical rural English life into one of hardship and adventure in the Canadian gold rush. And as her life becomes more and more unexpected she must become more and more resolute.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
But the Great Unexpected was yet to come into her life and put its test upon her.
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The Unfamiliar
Richard Connell
A quaint town on a hillside. Graphite Filter.
Published 1924 in Sunday Star, September 21
5,004 words - 21 minutes
A lost man who speaks no English is found in a small town. He is put to work on the farms but struggles to fit in with anyone due to peculiar cultural differences.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Perhaps the man never saw a mowing-machine before. I remember how scared I was when I saw the first automobile come roaring and snorting along the road. And so were you, Ben Crosby.”
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The Union Buries Its Dead
Henry Lawson
A curved, grave headstone, graphite filter.
Published 1893
1,694 words - 7 minutes
A funeral procession pays their respects to a man of whom no one even knows the name.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
You’d have taken more notice if you’d known that he was doomed to die in the hour, and that those were the last words he would say to any man in this world.
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The Unnamable
H. P. Lovecraft
Eyes in the darkness. Graphite filter
Published 1925 in Weird Tales, Vol. 6, No. 1
2,922 words - 12 minutes
In an effort to prove that there exists things which can only be described as ‘unnamable’, an author tells of a horror that he read off in an ancestor’s diary.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“Common sense” in reflecting on these subjects, I assured my friend with some warmth, is merely a stupid absence of imagination and mental flexibility.
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The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaal
Edgar Allan Poe
The moon, zoomed in. Graphite Filter.
Published 1835 in Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. 1, Iss. 10
18,400 words - 74 minutes
A man hovers down at Rotterdam in an air balloon and just before leaving drops a letter in which he reveals himself as the missing Hans Pfaal who has gone on a remarkable adventure further than any before.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“I resolved, let what would ensue, to force a passage, if I could, to the moon.”
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The Unparalleled Invasion
Jack London
A mist in a glass vial. Graphite Filter.
Published 1910 in McClure’s Magazine, Vol. 35, No. 2
5,190 words - 21 minutes
As industrialisation causes the population of China to grow rapidly, the rest of the world grows wary.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
“From this airship, as it curved its flight back and forth over the city, fell missiles—strange, harmless missiles, tubes of fragile glass that shattered into thousands of fragments on the streets and house-tops.”
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An Unwritten Novel
Virginia Woolf
A steam train travelling across a brdige. Graphite filter.
Published 1920 in The London Mercury, Vol. 2, Iss. 9
4,318 words - 18 minutes
After noticing a woman with an extremely sorrow expression on her face, the protagonist imagines her story.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Births, deaths, marriages, Court Circular, the habits of birds, Leonardo da Vinci, the Sandhills murder, high wages and the cost of living—oh, take what you like,”
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The Valley of Spiders
H. G. Wells
A white mess of spiderwebs. Graphite filter.
Published 1903 in Pearson’s Magazine
4,100 words - 17 minutes
Three men are chasing a girl through a valley for an unknown reason, when they come across different animals fleeing from something deeper within.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
They became aware of a squealing. Athwart the path a huge boar rushed, turning his head but for one instant to glance at them, and then hurling on down the valley again. And at that, all three stopped and sat in their saddles, staring into the thickening haze that was coming upon them.
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Vanka
Anton Chekhov
A splayed open book. Graphite filter.
Published 1886 in Петербургская Газета (St. Petersburg Gazette), No. 354
1,618 words - 7 minutes
An orphaned boy writes to his grandfather to take him away from his abusive life as a servant.
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“Dear grandfather, Konstantin Makaritch,” he wrote, “I am writing you a letter. I wish you a happy Christmas, and all blessings from God Almighty. I have neither father nor mother, you are the only one left me.”
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The Veldt
Ray Bradbury
A relaxed and regal looking lion lying on the ground. Graphite Filter.
Published 1950 in The Saturday Evening Post, Sep 23
4,772 words - 20 minutes
The Hadleys begin to worry that their children—and themselves—have become too obsessed with the 3d film machine in the nursery.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
It won’t hurt for the children to be locked out of it a while. Too much of anything isn’t good for anyone. And it was clearly indicated that the children had been spending a little too much time on Africa.
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A Vendetta
Guy de Maupassant
A cliffside town. Graphite Filter.
Published 1883 in Le Gaulois, Ser. 3, No. 454
1,617 words - 7 minutes
An old widow’s only son is murdered, so she takes it upon herself to seek vengeance with not strength but cunning.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
He had neither brothers nor cousins. No man was there to carry on the vendetta. His mother, the old woman, alone pondered over it.
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The Very Old Folk
H. P. Lovecraft
A large, bridled horse rearing up. Graphite filter
Published 1940 in Scienti-Snaps
2,694 words - 11 minutes
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
It was the Terrible Season of the autumn, and the wild people in the mountains were preparing for the frightful ceremonies which only rumour told of in the towns.
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The Veteran
Stephen Crane
A burning house. Graphite filter.
Published 1896 in McClure’s Magazine, Vol. 7, Iss. 3
1,832 words - 8 minutes
After an elderly veteran admits to running away at the sight of his first battle, his grandson doesn’t know what to think of his hero.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
Eight soldiers with rifles on a beach facing an explosion
War
“I thought they were all shooting at me. Yes, sir, I thought every man in the other army was aiming at me in particular, and only me. And it seemed so darned unreasonable”
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A Vine on a House
Ambrose Bierce
Gnarly roots and vines. Graphite filter
Published 1905 in Cosmopolitan Magazine, Vol. 39, Iss. 6
1,160 words - 5 minutes
A vine at an abandoned house mysteriously begins to shake on its own, spooking the locals.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Presently both men started from their seats in surprise: a long vine that covered half the front of the house and dangled its branches from the edge of the porch above them was visibly and audibly agitated, shaking violently in every stem and leaf.
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A Vintage from Atlantis
Clark Ashton Smith
A wooden, five-masted sailing ship on the sea. Graphite filter
Published 1933 in Weird Tales, Vol. 22, No. 3
2,707 words - 11 minutes
A crew of sailors find a mysterious bottle on a beach, temptingly smelling like a wine from a different era, aged to perfection.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Truly, there should be a rare vintage within, a wine that was mellowed in the youth of the world, before the founding of Rome and Athens.
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The Virgin
Rudyard Kipling
A masted ship at sea. Graphite filter.
Published 1914 in Nash’s Magazine, Jun
213 words - 1 minutes
A poem on a man’s first love.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
Try as he will, no man breaks wholly loose; From his first love, no matter who she be.
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A Vision of Judgment
H. G. Wells
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Published 1899 in The Butterfly
1,615 words - 7 minutes
The narrator, having died, sees humanities best and worst line up to be judged by god.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“There’s Darwin,” he said, going off at a tangent. “He’ll catch it! And there—you see—? That tall, important-looking man trying to catch the eye of the Lord God, that’s the Duke. But there’s a lot of people one doesn’t know.”
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A Voice from the Town
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1894 in The Bulletin, Vol. 14, No. 766
578 words - 3 minutes
An old man returns to town from the bush to realise his youth has gone away.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
I am back into civilisation - Once more in the stir and the strife - But the old joys have lost their sensation — The light has gone out of my life.
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Von Kempelen and His Discovery
Edgar Allan Poe
A cat's eyes in the darkness. Graphite filter.
Published 1849 in The Flag of our Union
2,811 words - 12 minutes
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A discovery which declares, in so many words, that beyond its intrinsic worth for manufacturing purposes (whatever that worth may be), gold now is, or at least soon will be (for it cannot be supposed that Von Kempelen can long retain his secret), of no greater value than lead, and of far inferior value to silver.
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A Voyage To Sfanmoë
Clark Ashton Smith
A misty planet. Graphite filter
Published 1931 in Weird Tales, Vol. 18, No. 1
2,920 words - 12 minutes
As Atlantis sinks, two scientists plan to escape the earth and find refuge on Venus.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
And though the peoples of Poseidonis continued to regard them as possible saviors, whose knowledge and resource were well-nigh superhuman, they had secretly abandoned all effort to salvage the doomed isle.
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Wanted by the Police
Henry Lawson
A farmstation on a hill.
Published 1905
5,339 words - 22 minutes
A family is visited by two runaway thieves needing shelter.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
So we form Prisoners’ Aid Societies, and Prisoners’ Defence Societies, and subscribe to them and praise them and love them and encourage them to protect or defend men from the very laws that we pay so dearly to maintain.
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Was it Heaven? Or Hell?
Mark Twain
An expressionless woman clutching her face. Graphite filter.
Published 1900
6,823 words - 28 minutes
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
In it a lie had no place. In it a lie was unthinkable. In it speech was restricted to absolute truth, iron-bound truth, implacable and uncompromising truth, let the resulting consequences be what they might.
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The Water of Life
Brothers Grimm
A lone horserider. Graphite filter.
Published 1812 in Grimms’ Fairy Tales
2,822 words - 12 minutes
A dying kings’ sons set out to find the water of life that may save him.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
He heard a loud laugh ringing round him, and found that the path was closed behind him, so that he was shut in all round. He next tried to get off his horse and make his way on foot, but again the laugh rang in his ears, and he found himself unable to move a step.
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The Wedding-Knell
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A bell hanging above a church. Graphite filter.
Published 1851
3,208 words - 13 minutes
After marrying two others first, a woman marries a man that has waited for her since their youth. But upon turning up to the church a funeral knell rings instead of a wedding peal.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
But so many weddings have been ushered in with the merriest peal of the bells, and yet turned out unhappily, that I shall hope for better fortune under such different auspices.
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The Wee Bannock
Flora Annie Steel
A castle. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,576 words - 7 minutes
After an old woman cooks two oatmeal bannocks, one decides to run away.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Now just as they were toasting away, smelling so fresh and tasty, in came the old man, and seeing them look so crisp and nice, takes up one of them and snaps a piece out of it. On this the other bannock thought it high time to be off, so up it jumps and away it trundles as fast as ever it could.
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The Well
W. W. Jacobs
A round, stone well, seen from inside. Graphite filter.
Published 1902 in The Lady of the Barge
4,249 words - 17 minutes
Jem Benson’s cousin, Wilfred, alludes having some private letters between the Jem and a woman not his wife.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
“Smoke your cigar in peace,” she said quietly. “I am settled here for a quiet talk. Has anything been heard of Wilfred yet?” - “Nothing.”
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The Well of the World’s End
Flora Annie Steel
A frog with a blank expression. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,113 words - 5 minutes
A young girl is asked by her step-mother to fetch water from the Well of the World’s End with a sieve.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Go, fill it at the Well of the World’s End and bring it home to me full, or woe betide you.”
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The Wendigo
Algernon Blackwood
A spruce tree in the snow. Graphite filter
Published 1910 in The Lost Valley and Other Short Stories
18,396 words - 74 minutes
A party of five are hunting moose in the Canadian backwoods when they get the sense that something is out there with them.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
And it was in that moment of distress and confusion that the whip of terror laid its most nicely calculated lash about his heart.
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What Stumped the Bluejays
Mark Twain
A open mouthed bluejay on a fence. Graphite filter.
Published 1880
2,079 words - 9 minutes
A man, claiming to understand animals, tells of how a bluejay couldn’t figure out where all his acorns were going after trying to hide them in a hole in a house’s roof.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
You think a cat can swear. Well, a cat can; but you give a bluejay a subject that calls for his reserve powers, and where is your cat!
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What the Moon Brings
H. P. Lovecraft
A full moon at night. Graphite filter
Published 1923 in National Amateur
726 words - 3 minutes
A man walks through a dream-like garden and discovers horrors within.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
I hate the moon—I am afraid of it—for when it shines on certain scenes familiar and loved it sometimes makes them unfamiliar and hideous. It was in the spectral summer when the moon shone down...
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When the World Was Young
Jack London
A man in a forest shines a light on a large, naked, bearded man. Black and white drawing.
Published 1910 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 183, Iss. 11
6,454 words - 26 minutes
While sneaking through the forest estate of a rich lawyer, a burglar comes across something scarier than any wild animal.
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
Looking about him, he noticed that the coyote had ceased its noise and was running away along the crest of the hill, and behind it, in full pursuit, no longer chanting, ran the naked creature he had encountered in the garden.
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Where Is The Tropic Of Capricorn??
Richard Connell
A 20th century city street. Graphite Filter.
Published 1922
4,983 words - 20 minutes
Peter Mullaney, falls short of his dream of becoming a cop by being one eighth of an inch under regulation height, but is determined as ever to prove himself and get in.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Pether,” said Officer Gaffney, dubiously, scratching his head with the tip of his night-stick, “I disrimimber but I think—I think, mind ye, it’s in the Bronx.”
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The Whirligig of Life
O. Henry
A gold ring. Graphite filter.
Published 1910
2,256 words - 10 minutes
In the mountains, a man and a woman come to their local Justice-of-the-Peace to petition for divorce.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“We-all can’t git along together nohow. It’s lonesome enough fur to live in the mount’ins when a man and a woman keers fur one another”
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The Whistling Room
William Hope Hodgson
A Thomas Carnacki Story
Drawing of a slightly distressed woman in a light gown.
Published 1910 in The Idler, Vol. 36, Iss. 90
7,131 words - 29 minutes
Carnacki is called to help at a house with a mysterious whistling sound with no apparent source.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“Then I heard it, an extraordinary hooning whistle, monstrous and inhuman, coming from far away through corridors to my right.”
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The White People
Arthur Machen
A splayed open book. Graphite filter.
Published 1904 in Horlick’s Magazine, Vol. 1
17,505 words - 71 minutes
Two men are debating what real evil is, when one brings up a mysterious diary in which a young girl wrote an unsettling but intriguing stream of dreams and fairytales.
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“And let me tell you this: our higher senses are so blunted, we are so drenched with materialism, that we should probably fail to recognize real wickedness if we encountered it.”
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The White Ship
H. P. Lovecraft
A lighthouse on a rocky shore. Graphite filter
Published 1919 in The United Amateur, Vol. 19, No. 2
2,535 words - 11 minutes
Basil Elton, keeper of a lighthouse, answers the call from a mysterious white ship and joins it’s captain on a journey to the South.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Out of the South it would glide very smoothly and silently over the sea. And whether the sea was rough or calm, and whether the wind was friendly or adverse, it would always glide smoothly and silently, its sails distant and its long strange tiers of oars moving rhythmically.
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The Wicked Prince
Hans Christian Andersen
A drawing of a prince dressed in a lavish red uniform
Published 1840
982 words - 4 minutes
An arrogant and warmongering prince vows to defeat God Himself.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
“Prince, you are mighty indeed, but God’s power is much greater than yours; we dare not obey your orders.”
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The Widower Turmore
Ambrose Bierce
A brick wall. Graphite filter.
Published 1891 in The Wave, Jan 10
2,033 words - 9 minutes
Joram Turmore is proud member of the Turmore family, who have never earnt an honest dollar since the seventeenth century. Worried that poverty may force him into labour, Joram finds a rich bachelorette to save him.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
Laborare est errare.
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The Widow’s Might
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A letter with a wax seal. Graphite filter.
Published 1911
2,768 words - 12 minutes
Mrs. McPherson tells her children that they won’t be getting any inheritance today.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
“What are we going to do with Mother?”
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William Wilson
Edgar Allan Poe
Little fragments of shattered glass. Graphite filter.
Published 1839 in The Gift
7,935 words - 32 minutes
William Wilson tells of his childhood, in which he met another boy of the same name. And as he soon discovers, the same clothes. And then the similarities only reveal themselves worse and worse.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
Not thus he appeared—assuredly not thus—in the vivacity of his waking hours. The same name! the same contour of person! the same day of arrival at the academy! And then his dogged and meaningless imitation of my gait, my voice, my habits, and my manner!
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The Wind’s Message
Banjo Paterson
A kangaroo on a plains. Graphite filter.
Published 1895 in The Man From Snowy River and Other Verses
356 words - 2 minutes
A whisper reaches the city folk from the outback, tempting them to set out into the bush.
Four birds in the distance. Graphie Filter.
Poetry
A sound of voices silent now and songs of long ago.
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Wings in the Night
Robert E. Howard
A Solomon Kane Story
Drawing of a man with short hair wrestling a winged demon in the clouds.
Published 1932 in Weird Tales, Vol. 20, No. 32
12,357 words - 50 minutes
Solomon Kane comes across a desecrated village that seems to have been attacked from above.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
A large hand, palm up with tense fingers. Graphite filter.
Horror
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
“The wings! the wings! They come again! Ahhh, mercy, the wings!”
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Wireless Confusion
Algernon Blackwood
A blue-bottle fly on wood, graphite filter.
Published 1921 in The Wolves of God and Other Fey Stories
2,241 words - 9 minutes
A man spontaneously begins to see the things in front of him grow and shrink to absurd proportions.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
The fly grew abruptly into gigantic proportions, became blurred and indistinct as it did so, covered the entire pane with its furry, dark, ugly mass, and frightened him so that he stepped back with a cry and nearly lost his balance altogether.
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The Wise Men Of Gotham
Flora Annie Steel
A worried looking, white rabbit. Graphite filter.
Published 1918
1,364 words - 6 minutes
Six stories of the wise men of Gotham, who are perhaps not so wise.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
And every man did count eleven, and the twelfth man did never count himself.
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Wit Inspirations of the “Two-Year-Olds”
Mark Twain
A smug baby being held by its mother. Graphite filter.
1,132 words - 5 minutes
A man wonders what would have happened to him if he had spoken as “smartly” as the new generation when he himself was two years old.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
“Father, I have an invincible antipathy to that name.”
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A Witch Shall Be Born
Robert E. Howard
A Conan the Barbarian Story
Drawing of arrows flying at a monstrous fish in front of a sworded-wielding man and unconscious, naked woman.
Published 1934 in Weird Tales, Vol. 24, No. 6
16,370 words - 66 minutes
Queen Taramis is imprisoned by her twin sister, who steals her place as Queen. But Conan, who is acting as captain of the Queen’s guard, sees through the ruse.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
‘Every century a witch shall be born.’
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The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Aesop
A howling wolf. Graphite filter.
Published ~400 BCE
96 words - 1 minutes
A small fable on karma.
A rabbit, looking nervous. Graphite filter.
Childrens
A Wolf resolved to disguise himself in order that he might prey upon a flock of sheep without fear of detection. So he clothed himself in a sheepskin, and slipped among the sheep when they were out at...
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Work, Death and Sickness
Leo Tolstoy
The sun rising over the horizon. Graphite filter.
Published 1903
894 words - 4 minutes
God introduces struggle to mankind in an attempt to force them to live in peace.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
‘Knowing that each of them may die at any moment,’ thought God, ‘they will not, by grasping at gains that may last so short a time, spoil the hours of life allotted to them.’
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The Wreck
Guy de Maupassant
A masted ship. Graphite filter.
Published 1886
4,005 words - 17 minutes
A man tells of how he found himself trapped on a shipwreck with an English family.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
We were on deck in an instant. It was too late. The water circled us about and was running toward the coast at tremendous speed. No, it did not run, it glided, crept, spread like an immense, limitless blot. The water was barely a few centimeters deep, but the rising flood had gone so far that we no longer saw the vanishing line of the imperceptible tide.
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The Wrong Shape
G. K. Chesterton
A Father Brown Story
A moustached man looks at tan older man holding up and staring at a piece of paper.
Published 1910 in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 185, Iss. 24
6,950 words - 28 minutes
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
The modern mind always mixes up two different ideas: mystery in the sense of what is marvellous, and mystery in the sense of what is complicated.
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The Wrongdoing of Edwin Dell
Richard Connell
A 20th century city with horse-drawn carriages. Graphite filter.
Published 1924
7,292 words - 30 minutes
Edwin Dell, a sheltered boy is finally heading off to the big city of New York. Despite his mother’s warnings to avoid girls, he finds himself at the centre of attention of a particularly forthcoming woman.
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
He had been aware that there were many girls in New York, but he had ignored them. This girl was hard to ignore.
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Xeethra
Clark Ashton Smith
Drawing of a young boy in front of a strange tree thick with leaves. Nearby are strange looking beings.
Published 1934 in Weird Tales, Vol. 24, No. 6
7,394 words - 30 minutes
A young goat shepherd discovers a mysterious cave which leads to a strange land he doesn’t recognise. But after eating a dark-red fruit from one of the local trees, he has visions of a different life as a king of some mystical, far-away land.
A kings crown sitting on a stool. Graphite filter.
Fantasy
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“These things were illusions, designed to lead you astray; and the cave, I wot, was no honest cave but an entrance into hell.”
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The Yellow Face
Arthur Conan Doyle
A Sherlock Holmes Story
A man in a bowler hat and a popped collar. Graphite filter
Published 1893 in The Strand Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 26
7,497 words - 30 minutes
Grand Munro comes to Holmes, suspicious of his wife’s fidelity after she asked for one hundred pounds and refused to explain why.
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
A man trekking through a vast desert. Graphite filter
Adventure
“One does not like to speak of one’s domestic affairs to strangers. It seems dreadful to discuss the conduct of one’s wife with two men whom I have never seen before. It’s horrible to have to do it. But I’ve got to the end of my tether, and I must have advice.”
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The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Drawing of a woman in a 19th century dress writing on a wooden rocking chair by a window.
Published 1892 in The New England Magazine, New Series: Vol. 5
6,089 words - 25 minutes
A woman, restrained to her house by her husband and sister-in-law, begins obsessing over wallpaper she finds disturbing.
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
A stone grave with an wreath shape embossed upon it. Graphite filter.
Tragedy
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
At first he meant to repaper the room, but afterwards he said that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous patient than to give way to such fancies.
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Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne
A large twisting tree in a forest. Graphite filter.. Graphite filter.
Published 1835 in The New England Magazine, Vol. 8
5,229 words - 21 minutes
A man leaves his wife to head off into the forest, where he meets with a mysterious character and his serpentine staff.
A woman clutching her face.
Literary
A spired cathedral looming large.
Gothic
But the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent.
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Youth
Isaac Asimov
Drawing of a large boy pushing a small mammal into a cloth bag.
Published 1952 in Space: Science Fiction, Vol. 1, No. 1
9,992 words - 40 minutes
Young Red and Slim find two small animals and keep them in a cage, but the animals look at them with a hint of intelligence in their eyes.
A short rocket launching into space amidst smoke. Graphite filter.
Sci-fi
A vintage oven with a teapot on the stove. Graphite filter.
Quirky
A silhouetted man in a brimmed hat.
Mystery
They were small, and sort of disgusting-looking. The animals moved quickly as the canvas lifted and were on the side toward the youngsters.
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